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A typical stack is an area of computer memory with a fixed origin and a variable size. Initially the size of the stack is zero. A stack pointer (usually in the form of a processor register) points to the most recently referenced location on the stack; when the stack has a size of zero, the stack pointer points to the origin of the stack.
Stack-based allocation can also cause minor performance problems: it leads to variable-size stack frames, so that both stack and frame pointers need to be managed (with fixed-size stack frames, the stack pointer is redundant due to multiplying the stack frame pointer by the size of each frame).
Newer processors contain a dedicated stack engine to optimize stack operations. Pentium M was the first x86 processor to introduce a stack engine. In its implementation, the stack pointer is split among two registers: ESP O , which is a 32-bit register, and ESP d , an 8-bit delta value that is updated directly by stack operations.
Call stack layout for upward-growing stacks after the DrawSquare subroutine (shown in blue) called DrawLine (shown in green), which is the currently executing routine. A call stack is composed of stack frames (also called activation records or activation frames).
Any stack push or pop or any data reference referring to the stack uses the stack segment. All other references to data use the data segment. ... the size of a ...
The stack segment contains the call stack, a LIFO structure, typically located in the higher parts of memory. A "stack pointer" register tracks the top of the stack; it is adjusted each time a value is "pushed" onto the stack. The set of values pushed for one function call is termed a "stack frame". A stack frame consists at minimum of a return ...
Some stack machines have a stack of limited size, implemented as a register file. The ALU will access this with an index. A large register file uses a lot of transistors and hence this method is only suitable for small systems. A few machines have both an expression stack in memory and a separate register stack.
It may also cause minor performance problems: it leads to variable-size stack frames, so that both stack and frame pointers need to be managed (with fixed-size stack frames, one of these is redundant). [40] Larger allocations may also increase the risk of undefined behavior due to a stack overflow. [41]