We ❤️ Open Source

A community education resource

September 15, 2025

Download the free starter guide to command-line stacks today

Build your programming fundamentals with hands-on tutorials and practical examples.

By Jim Hall

Sharpen your coding skills with this hands-on guide to command-line stacks. You’ll start with the classic Unix dc calculator, learn how Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) works, and discover why stacks are at the core of its design. Then, implement your own simplified version in C by managing input, performing math operations, and manipulating a stack along the way.

Whether you’re brushing up on C or exploring Unix-era tools, this guide gives you practical skills in stack-based programming and terminal efficiency.

Get the starter guide and try the tutorials today

About the Author

Jim Hall

Jim Hall is an open source software advocate and developer, best known for usability testing in GNOME and as the founder + project coordinator of FreeDOS. At work, Jim is CEO of Hallmentum, an IT executive consulting company that provides hands-on IT Leadership training, workshops, and coaching.

Read Jim's Full Bio

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

The opinions expressed on this website are those of each author, not of the author's employer or All Things Open/We Love Open Source.

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