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Section 6

Heaps vs. Stack

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Let’s say we are using C. Would you use the stack or the heap, and why?

  1. Loop counter
  2. A small struct
  3. A very large struct

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Stack

Heap

  • Small, short-living values
  • Not going to change size later
  • Statically-sized allocations: size known at compile time
  • Large, long-living values
  • When memory allocation might be changed in future
  • Variable-sized memory: size unknown at compile time

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If you were writing a compiler, would you use the stack or the heap, and why?

  1. Array
  2. Hashtable
  3. (Bonus!) Floats

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What if we want 64 bit tagged floats or ints?

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Pick any kind of data from any programming language. Look up whether it’s stored on the stack or the heap and why!

Example: Java objects are stored on the (stack/heap) because …

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