![]() We already know from previous lessons that this happens because the method calls execute before the end of the methods is reached, so, following the program’s logic, the execution jumped from the Main() method to MethodOne(), then to MethodTwo() and finally to MethodThree(), at which end’s it stopped where the breakpoint was set. Press the Continue button, and you will see the execution being transferred to MethodThree(), pausing at the breakpoint at the end of it. We will see a breakpoint just like the one that is currently hit, but with some additional information near it, like the Module name (methods are stored in classes, classes are stored in modules, modules are stored in assemblies, but you don’t have to worry about that for now), the name of our assembly, the class and the method which was called, plus its parameters, and some other stuff like the code language and the line number where the method was called. When the first breakpoint, the one in the Main() method is hit, we will get this: If you can’t find it, it can be displayed by going to the Debug menu, Windows submenu and choosing Call Stack:īe aware that this window is only available in debugging mode, so don’t be surprised if you don’t find it while your program is executing or stopped in design mode. But, what we are interested in is a panel called Call Stack, located at the bottom of Visual Studio. As expected, when the execution will hit the breakpoint in the Main() method, it will be paused and we will enter in debugging mode. Set a breakpoint at the beginning of the Main() method, and at the end of all the other methods, like this: Very simple code: we have our Main() method which calls a method called MethodOne(), which calls a method called MethodTwo(), which again calls a method named MethodThree(), which does nothing. To better visualize this, let’s take the following code: Whenever we add a box, we add it at the top end of the pile, and only there, and same when we take a box – we only take them one by one, starting from the top end alone. You cannot directly put a box in the middle of the stack, just like you cannot take a box without crashing the whole pile. ![]() For these reasons, you can think of the Stack as a pile of boxes, one on top of the other. Also, the Stack is a contiguous(continuous, in a row) block of memory. Whenever we call a method or a function, that call is stored inside the Stack. The Stackis generally used to keep a track of our program’s functions and methods calls. Even if they both fundamentally provide the same functionality, the Stack and the Heap are very different in the way they operate. So, the RAM allows our programs to store data from variables and stuff, while very efficiently allowing us to modify or process it. It would be a very inefficient process to store, read, modify and write all this data on the hard drive. So, first of all, why do we even need memory, why do we need the RAM? The reason why programs require memory to run is because they need to store and process data. The Stack is a predefined size memory, with about 2 megabytes capacity, while the Heap, being also kind of predefined in size, it is much larger, and it can expand as the execution requires. There are multiple differences between these two kind of memory, both characteristics and functionality wise, and the first of them is the size. As you will find out in this lesson, the Stack and the Heap are two memory areas located in the computer’s RAM. Whenever we execute a program, its instructions are loaded into the RAM of the computer, and the operating system will allocate a bunch of physical RAM, so that the executable can run. There are multiple types of memory when it comes to software, but for now we are only interested in two of them: the Stack and the Heap. The size of objects allocated on the heap is often not known to the compiler - therefore the programmer must allocate and release the memory specifically.Today we are going to talk all about memory. It is independent of the function making a request and as your program does not take care of cleaning it up it's the programmer's job to deal with heap memory. Heap consists of memory that can be allocated at run time and its something like a pool of memory from which you can request some chunk of it. If you access the memory location the values would still be persistent but they would not have any reference and can be over written by variables defined in the called function. Just before func returns, it decreases the Stack pointer and then jumps back to that original return address making variables out of scope for func. Thus all variables declared inside func are declared in stack. Now when p is defined inside the function func it would define at the Stak pointer.
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