7.3.5 Other External Data Structures

Another data structure for a symbol table is a stack where a pointer is kept to the top of the stack for each block. In this structure, names are pushed onto the stack as they are encountered. When a block is completed, that portion of the stack and a pointer to it are moved so that the containing block's names can be completed. This is an easy structure to implement, but relatively inefficient in operation.

Combinations of the data structures are also used. Thus, we could have a hashed structured symbol table implemented as a stack.