feat: add algorithm to evaluate postfix string (#1441)

* feat: add algorithm to evaluate postfix strings

* feat: add test case for evaluate expression

* update: add literature reference

* fix: import name in testcase

* fix: test case result

* Make clear that this is postfix

* Update tests

* add: see reference

* fixes mentioned issues

* Fix `default` case

---------

Co-authored-by: Lars Müller <[email protected]>

Author: gaurovgiri

Data-Structures/Stack/EvaluateExpression.js

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/**
+ * Evaluate a numeric operations string in postfix notation using a stack.
+ * Supports basic arithmetic operations: +, -, *, /
+ * @see https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/evaluation-of-postfix-expression/
+ * @param {string} expression - Numeric operations expression to evaluate. Must be a valid postfix expression.
+ * @returns {number|null} - Result of the expression evaluation, or null if the expression is invalid.
+ */
+function evaluatePostfixExpression(expression) {
+  const stack = [];
+
+  // Helper function to perform an operation and push the result to the stack. Returns success.
+  function performOperation(operator) {
+    const rightOp = stack.pop(); // Right operand is the top of the stack
+    const leftOp = stack.pop(); // Left operand is the next item on the stack
+
+    if (leftOp === undefined || rightOp === undefined) {
+      return false; // Invalid expression
+    }
+    switch (operator) {
+      case '+':
+        stack.push(leftOp + rightOp);
+        break;
+      case '-':
+        stack.push(leftOp - rightOp);
+        break;
+      case '*':
+        stack.push(leftOp * rightOp);
+        break;
+      case '/':
+        if (rightOp === 0) {
+          return false;
+        }
+        stack.push(leftOp / rightOp);
+        break;
+      default:
+        return false; // Unknown operator
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  const tokens = expression.split(/\s+/);
+
+  for (const token of tokens) {
+    if (!isNaN(parseFloat(token))) {
+      // If the token is a number, push it to the stack
+      stack.push(parseFloat(token));
+    } else {
+      // If the token is an operator, perform the operation
+      if (!performOperation(token)) {
+        return null; // Invalid expression
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return (stack.length === 1) ? stack[0] : null;
+}
+
+export { evaluatePostfixExpression };

Data-Structures/Stack/test/EvaluateExpression.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { evaluatePostfixExpression } from '../EvaluateExpression.js';
+
+describe('evaluatePostfixExpression', () => {
+  it('should evaluate a valid expression', () => {
+    const expression = '3 4 * 2 / 5 +'; // (3 * 4) / 2 + 5 = 11
+    const result = evaluatePostfixExpression(expression);
+    expect(result).toBe(11);
+  });
+
+  it('should handle division by zero', () => {
+    const expression = '3 0 /'; // Division by zero
+    const result = evaluatePostfixExpression(expression);
+    expect(result).toBe(null);
+  });
+
+  it('should handle an invalid expression', () => {
+    const expression = '3 * 4 2 / +'; // Invalid expression
+    const result = evaluatePostfixExpression(expression);
+    expect(result).toBe(null);
+  });
+
+});