Applications of Stacks and Queues: Parentheses Matching Problem, Super Simple with Stacks
### Parentheses Matching Problem: The "Ultra-Simple" Application of Stacks This article introduces a method to solve the parentheses matching problem using stacks (with the Last-In-First-Out property). The problem requires determining if a string composed of `()`, `[]`, and `{}` is valid, meaning left parentheses and right parentheses correspond one-to-one and in the correct order. The "Last-In-First-Out" property of stacks is well-suited for this problem: left parentheses are pushed onto the stack for temporary storage, and right parentheses must match the most recently pushed left parenthesis. The specific steps are as follows: initialize a stack; when traversing the string, directly push left parentheses onto the stack; for right parentheses, check if the top element of the stack matches (using a dictionary to map right parentheses to their corresponding left parentheses). If they match, pop the top element; otherwise, the string is invalid. After traversal, if the stack is empty, the string is valid; otherwise, it is invalid. Key details include: distinguishing parenthesis types (using a dictionary for mapping), immediately returning invalid if the stack is empty when encountering a right parenthesis, and ensuring the stack is empty at the end as a necessary condition for validity. Through the logic of pushing left parentheses, checking right parentheses, and popping on match, this method efficiently determines the validity of any parenthesis string.
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