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A stack may be implemented as, for example, a singly linked list with a pointer to the top element. A stack may be implemented to have a bounded capacity. If the stack is full and does not contain enough space to accept another element, the stack is in a state of stack overflow. A stack is needed to implement depth-first search.
This type of stack is also known as an execution stack, program stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to simply the "stack". Although maintenance of the call stack is important for the proper functioning of most software , the details are normally hidden and automatic in high-level programming languages .
The call stack is usually implemented as a contiguous area of memory. It is an arbitrary design choice whether the bottom of the stack is the lowest or highest address within this area, so that the stack may grow forwards or backwards in memory; however, many architectures chose the latter. [citation needed]
A stack buffer overflow can be caused deliberately as part of an attack known as stack smashing. If the affected program is running with special privileges, or accepts data from untrusted network hosts (e.g. a webserver ) then the bug is a potential security vulnerability .
The RETURN instruction pops the return address from the stack into the instruction pointer and execution resumes at that address. (Examples: x86, PDP-11) In architectures such as the Motorola 96000, the stack area may be allocated in a separate address space, which is called 'Stack Memory Space', [22] distinct from the main memory address space ...
The stack is often used to store variables of fixed length local to the currently active functions. Programmers may further choose to explicitly use the stack to store local data of variable length. If a region of memory lies on the thread's stack, that memory is said to have been allocated on the stack, i.e. stack-based memory allocation (SBMA).
PostScript is an example of a postfix stack-based language. An expression example in this language is 2 3 mul ('mul' being the command for the multiplication operation). Calculating the expression involves understanding how stack orientation works. Stack orientation can be presented as the following conveyor belt analogy.
The C programming language manages memory statically, automatically, or dynamically.Static-duration variables are allocated in main memory, usually along with the executable code of the program, and persist for the lifetime of the program; automatic-duration variables are allocated on the stack and come and go as functions are called and return.