pushElement

PushElement is a term used in programming to denote a function or method that adds a new element to the end of a collection or to a container. The exact behavior depends on language and library, but the core idea is to extend a sequence by one element and often to indicate the result of the operation, such as the new size or the appended element itself.

In data structures, pushElement typically appends to the end of a dynamic array or list. Some implementations return the new index of the added element, while others return the updated collection. The operation is commonly used to grow sequences as new data arrives or as items are produced.

In code, pushElement can be implemented in various languages. For example, in JavaScript, a simple wrapper might be function pushElement(arr, elem) { arr.push(elem); return arr.length; }. In UI or DOM contexts, pushElement may refer to adding a node to a container, such as parent.appendChild(child), often returning the appended element or the parent for chaining.

Performance and design considerations vary. For arrays, push operations are typically amortized O(1). For linked lists, adding at the end is O(1) if a tail reference exists. Some designs favor immutability, returning a new collection rather than mutating the original. In practice, the exact behavior of pushElement—return value, mutability, and type constraints—depends on the surrounding language, framework, and coding conventions.

See also: push, append, insert, enqueue.