What type of principle does a stack data structure follow?

A stack data structure operates under the Last In First Out (LIFO) principle, meaning the most recently added element is the first one to be removed. This behavior can be illustrated with a physical stack of plates, where you can only take the top plate off the stack. When you push a new item onto the stack, it goes on top of the existing items, and when you pop an item off the stack, it is the most recently added item that is removed first.

The LIFO principle is fundamental to how stacks function, influencing both the operations you can perform and their applications in programming, such as function calls, undo mechanisms in text editors, and backtracking algorithms. The stack’s simplicity in managing the order of elements is what makes it a powerful tool in computer science.