CareerCup 3.1

3.1 Describe how you could use a single array to implement three stacks.

Approach 1: Fixed Division

class ThreeStack {
private:
    int stackSize;
    int *buffer;
    int stackPointer[3];
public:
    ThreeStack(int size) {
        stackSize = size;
        buffer = new int[stackSize*3];
        for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
            stackPointer[i] = -1;
    }
    ~ThreeStack() {
        delete[] buffer;
    }
    int absTopOfStack(int stackNum) {
        return stackNum * stackSize + stackPointer[stackNum];
    }
    bool isEmpty(int stackNum) {
        return stackPointer[stackNum] == -1;
    }
    int top(int stackNum) {
        return buffer[absTopOfStack(stackNum)];
    }
    void push(int stackNum, int value) {
        if (stackPointer[stackNum] + 1 >= stackSize) {
            throw out_of_range("Out of space.");
        }
        stackPointer[stackNum]++;
        buffer[absTopOfStack(stackNum)] = value;
    }
    int pop(int stackNum) {
        if (stackPointer[stackNum] == -1) {
            throw out_of_range("Trying to pop an empty stack.");
        }
        int value = buffer[absTopOfStack(stackNum)];
        stackPointer[stackNum]--;
        return value;
    }
};

Approach 2: Flexible Divisions