Question : Problem: stacking versus cascading switches

What exactly is the technical difference between stacking and cascading Cisco switches besides the fact that stacking results in a logical switch which is managed as a single switch? What are the implications on performance of using the stack port as opposed to cascading using uplink fast ethernet ports?

Answer : Problem: stacking versus cascading switches

Usually stackable switches have back plane connections that allow the inter switch links to exceed 100 mb.  In a cascade scenario, you can see bottle necks at the uplinked ports.