size_t i=0;          // start with the 0th character in the array
   char str[80], ch;    // the string is stored in str[]
   stack<char> store;
   bool palindrome;

//ASSUMPTIONS:  the characters have been stored in the array str
//              whitespace and punctuation have been removed
//              all characters have been converted to upper case
//              a period has been stored as the terminating character


   // put characters of string on the stack

   while (str[i] != '.'){
       store.push(str[i]); 
       i++;
   }

   palindrome = true;        
   i=0;                    // reset index to start at beginning of str

   while (!store.empty() && palindrome){
       ch = store.top();
       store.pop();
       if (ch != str[i])
          palindrome = false;
       i++;
   }

// at this point, palindrome == true if the string was a palindrome, 
// false otherwise