Which data structure follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle?

The correct answer is indeed a stack, as it adheres to the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle. This means that the most recently added element to the stack will be the first one to be removed. In practical terms, you can think of a stack as similar to a stack of plates: you can only remove the top plate (the last one placed on the stack) without disturbing the others underneath.

When you interact with a stack, you typically perform operations such as "push" to add an element to the top and "pop" to remove the element from the top. This behavior is critical in various programming scenarios, such as function call management in memory, where the most recent function call needs to return before the earlier ones can proceed.

The other structures mentioned do not follow the LIFO principle. A queue operates on the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle, where elements are added to the back and removed from the front. Arrays and lists, while they can simulate both LIFO and FIFO behaviors depending on how they're used, do not inherently enforce the LIFO principle without specific methods to manage adding and removing elements. Hence, in the context of data structures that inherently follow the LIFO principle, the stack is