I have a prefix expression that only has the 4 binary operators(+,-,*,/) .A straight forward way to evaluate such an expression is to convert it to a postfix expression and
Simple recursion:
Evaluate(input):
Read a token from input.
If the token is a value:
Return the value of the token
If the token is a binary operator:
Let first_argument = Evaluate(input)
Let second_argument = Evaluate(input)
Return apply(operator, first_argument, second_argument)
Use a stack. Place your vars and operators and start popping each stack, one for operators and the other for varaiablss (the number of pops depending on arity).