Reverse a String Using Stack

Problem:

Given a string, reverse it using stack. Do not use any built in string or array reverse functions.

Example:

Input String: JavaScript

Output String: tpircSavaJ

Algorithm:

This is a relatively simple problem. The approach involves pushing all the characters of the string onto a stack and then reading them by popping them off. Since a stack follows the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) principle, the string is automatically reversed during the pop operations.

Steps:

  1. Create an empty stack and push all the characters of the string onto it.
  2. Pop the characters from the stack one by one and concatenate them to form the reversed string.

Solution & Visualize:

The animation/visualization below demonstrates how the algorithm to reverse a string works. Feel free to experiment by changing the input strings.

Result
Code

Input:

Output:

   
solution.js
stack.js
stack-displayer.js
animator-module.js
function stackSolution(args) {
    let string = args[0];

    const stack = new Stack(
                        [],
                        {
                            name: 'Stack',
                            description: 'This stack is used to hold the string characters.'
                        }
                    );

    animatorModule.displayComment('Push individual characters of the string to the stack.');
    for (var i = 0; i < string.length; i++) {
        stack.push(string[i]);
    }

    animatorModule.displayComment('Now pop the characters from stack and concatenate them.');
    let reversedString = '';
    while (! stack.isEmpty()) {
        reversedString += stack.pop();
        animatorModule.displayOutput(reversedString);
    }

    animatorModule.displayComment('');
    return reversedString;
}
                                        
class Stack {
    metaData = {
        'name': 'Stack',
        'description': '',
        'animation_duration': 1500,
    }

    constructor(initialData, metaData) {
        this.initialData = [...initialData];
        this.metaData = Object.assign({}, this.metaData, metaData);

        this.stackDisplayer = new StackDisplayer(initialData, this.metaData);
        this.stackId = this.stackDisplayer.display();
    }

    getStackData() {
        return this.initialData;
    }

    push(value) {
        this.initialData.push(value);

        // Perform the animation
        animatorModule.performPushAnimation(this.stackId, value);
    }

    pop() {
        if (this.initialData.length == 0) return;

        const value = this.initialData.pop();

        // Perform the animation
        animatorModule.performPopAnimation(this.stackId, value);

        return value;
    }

    top() {
        if (this.initialData.length == 0) return;

        const value = this.initialData[this.initialData.length - 1];

        return value;
    }

    isEmpty() {
        return this.initialData.length === 0;
    }
}
                                        
class StackDisplayer {
    constructor(initialData, metaData) {
        this.initialData = initialData;
        this.metaData = metaData;
    }

    display() {
        // Display stack on the screen
        const stackTemplate = document.getElementById('stack-template');
        const clone = stackTemplate.content.cloneNode(true);
        const stackCount = document.getElementsByClassName('stack-wrapper').length + 1;

        // Add an unique ID to the clone
        const stackWrapperId = 'stack-' + stackCount;
        const stackWrapper = clone.querySelector('.stack-wrapper');
        stackWrapper.id = stackWrapperId;

        // Add initial stack items
        const stackElement = clone.querySelector('.stack');
        while(this.initialData.length) {
            stackElement.insertAdjacentHTML(
                'beforeend',
                '<div class="stack-item">'+ this.initialData.pop() +'</div>'
            )
        }

        clone.querySelector('.stack-description h4')
             .textContent = this.metaData.name;
        clone.querySelector('.stack-description p')
             .textContent = this.metaData.description;

        document.getElementById('stack-visualizer')
                .appendChild(clone);

        return stackWrapperId;
    }
}
                                        
class AnimationList {
    animations = [];

    length() {
        return this.animations.length;
    }

    push(animation) {
        this.animations.push(animation);
    }

    shift() {
        return this.animations.shift();
    }
}

let animatorModule = (function() {
    let animations = new AnimationList();
    let animationsRunning = false;
    let animationSpeed = 1200;

    function getMoveDownAnimation(animation) {
        let topElement = animation.stackElement.children[0];

        let distance = animation.stackElement.offsetHeight;
        if (topElement) {
            distance = topElement.getBoundingClientRect().y
                        - animation.pushElement.getBoundingClientRect().y
                        - animation.pushElement.getBoundingClientRect().height
                        - 2; // Margin bottom
        }

        let moveDownAnimation = [
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            '0',
            (0.2 * distance) +  'px',
            (0.37 * distance) +  'px',
            (0.55 * distance) +  'px',
            (0.7 * distance) +  'px',
            (0.87 * distance) +  'px',
            distance  + 'px',
            distance  + 'px'
        ];

        return moveDownAnimation;
    }

    function getMoveUpAnimation(animation) {
        let topElement = animation.stackElement.children[0];
        let distance = topElement.getBoundingClientRect().y
                        - animation.pushElement.getBoundingClientRect().y;

        let moveUpAnimation = [
            (distance - 0.95 * distance) +  'px',
            (distance - 0.87 * distance) +  'px',
            (distance - 0.7 * distance) +  'px',
            (distance - 0.55 * distance) +  'px',
            (distance - 0.37 * distance) +  'px',
            (distance - 0.2 * distance) +  'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px',
            distance + 'px'
        ];

        return moveUpAnimation;
    }

    function pushAnimate(animation) {
        animation.pushElement.textContent = animation.value;

        let pushAnimationKeyFrames = {
            // 25% - Show element
            opacity: ['0', '0.3', '0.7', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1', '1'],
            left: ['0', '0', '0', '0', '7px', '20px', '35px', '60px', '75px', '90px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px', '100px'],
            top: getMoveDownAnimation(animation),
            offset: [0, 0.08, 0.16, 0.25, 0.25, 0.31, 0.37, 0.43, 0.5, 0.56, 0.62, 0.68, 0.73, 0.78, 0.83, 0.88, 0.93, 0.98, 1]
        };

        let duplicateElement = animation.pushElement.cloneNode(true);
        duplicateElement.classList.remove('hidden');

        // TODO: Increase the height of the stack before pushing

        let pushAnimation = animation.pushElement.animate(pushAnimationKeyFrames, animationSpeed);

        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            return pushAnimation.finished.then(() => {
                animation.stackElement.prepend(duplicateElement);
                resolve(`Push Animation completed!`);
            });
        })
    }

    function popAnimate(animation) {
        let popAnimationKeyFrames = {
            bottom: getMoveUpAnimation(animation),
            left: ['0', '0', '0', '0', '0', '0', '7px', '20px', '35px', '60px', '75px', '90px', '100px'],
            offset: [0, 0.07, 0.15, 0.22, 0.3, 0.37, 0.45, 0.52, 0.6, 0.67, 0.75, 0.82, 0.9, 1]
        };

        let topElement = animation.stackElement.children[0];

        let popAnimation = topElement.animate(popAnimationKeyFrames, animationSpeed);
        // The animation is not smooth
        // So remove the item before animation is completed
        setTimeout(() => {
            topElement.remove();
            animation.popElement.textContent = topElement.textContent;
        }, animationSpeed - 200);

        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            return popAnimation.finished.then(() => {
                // topElement.remove();
                // animation.popElement.textContent = topElement.textContent;
                resolve(`Pop Animation completed!`);
            });
        })
    }

    function displayCommentAnimate(animation) {
        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            document.getElementsByClassName('sv-comment')[0]
                    .innerHTML = animation.value;

            setTimeout(() => {
                resolve('Comment displayed!');
            }, animation.timeout);
        })
    }

    function displayOutputAnimate(animation) {
        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            let outputELement = document.getElementById('final-output');
            outputELement.innerHTML = animation.value;
            resolve('Output displayed!');
        })
    }

    function runSingleAnimation(animation) {
        switch (animation.type) {
            case 'push':
                return pushAnimate(animation);
                break;
            case 'pop':
                return popAnimate(animation);
                break;
            case 'display-comment':
                return displayCommentAnimate(animation);
                break;
            case 'display-output':
                return displayOutputAnimate(animation);
                break;
        }
    }

    function runAnimations() {
        if (animationsRunning) return;

        animationsRunning = true;
        // Perform the animations one after the other
        let animation = animations.shift();
        runSingleAnimation(animation)
            .then(() => {
                animationsRunning = false;
                if (animations.length()) {
                    runAnimations();
                }
            });
    }

    function getStackElements(stackId) {
        let stackWrapper = document.getElementById(stackId);
        return {
            stackElement: stackWrapper.getElementsByClassName('stack')[0],
            pushElement: stackWrapper.getElementsByClassName('push-element')[0],
            popElement: stackWrapper.getElementsByClassName('pop-element')[0]
        }
    }

    let performPushAnimation = function (stackId, value) {
        let animationObject = Object.assign(
                                {type: 'push', value: value},
                                getStackElements(stackId)
                            );
        animations.push(animationObject);

        runAnimations();
    }

    let performPopAnimation = function (stackId, value) {
        let animationObject = Object.assign(
                                {type: 'pop', value: value},
                                getStackElements(stackId)
                            );
        animations.push(animationObject);

        runAnimations();
    }

    /**
     * Set the animation duration.
     *
     * @param flot speed Duration in seconds (1, 2.5...)
     */
    let setAnimationSpeed = function (speed) {
        animationSpeed = speed * 1000;
    }

    let displayComment = function (comment, timeout = 0) {
        let animationObject = {
            type: 'display-comment',
            value: comment,
            timeout: timeout
        };

        animations.push(animationObject);
        runAnimations();
    }

    let displayOutput = function (output) {
        let animationObject = {
            type: 'display-output',
            value: output
        };

        animations.push(animationObject);
        runAnimations();
    }

    let clearAnimations = function () {
        animations = new AnimationList();
        animationsRunning = false;
    }

    return {
        performPushAnimation: performPushAnimation,
        performPopAnimation: performPopAnimation,
        setAnimationSpeed: setAnimationSpeed,
        displayComment: displayComment,
        displayOutput: displayOutput,
        clearAnimations: clearAnimations
    }
})();