A Short Digression on

Stacks and Heaps

CS-3013, Operating Systems

C-Term 2008
(Slides include materials from Operating System Concepts, 7th ed., by Silbershatz, Galvin, & Gagne and
from Modern Operating Systems, 2nd ed., by Tanenbaum)

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 The Stack (from CS-2011)
• The place where arguments of a function call are
stored
• The place where registers of the calling function
are saved
• The place where local data of called function is
allocated
• Automatic data
• The place where called function leaves result for
calling function
• Supports recursive function calls
• …

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 Introduction: The “Stack”

• Imagine the following program:–

int factorial(int n){
if (n <= 1)
return (1);
else
int y = factorial(n-1);
return (y * n);
}
• Imagine also the caller:–
int x = factorial(100);
• What does compiled code look like?
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 Compiled code: the caller
int x = factorial(100);

• Put the value “100” somewhere that

factorial function can find
• Put the current program counter somewhere
so that factorial function can return to the
right place in calling function
• Provide a place to put the result, so that
calling function can find it

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 Compiled code: factorial function
• Save the caller’s registers somewhere
• Get the argument n from the agreed-upon place
• Set aside some memory for local variables and
intermediate results – i.e., y, n - 1

• Do whatever factorial was programmed to do

• Put the result where the caller can find it

• Restore the caller’s registers
• Transfer back to the program counter saved by the
caller
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 Question: Where is “somewhere”?

• So that caller can provide as many

arguments as needed (within reason)?
• So that called routine can decide at run-
time how much temporary space is needed?

• So that called routine can call any other

routine, potentially recursively?
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 Answer: a “Stack”

• Stack – a linear data structure in which

items are added and removed in last-in,
first-out order.

• Calling program
• Push arguments & return address onto stack
• After return, pop result off stack

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 “Stack” (continued)

• Called routine
• Push registers and return address onto stack
• Push temporary storage space onto stack

• Do work of the routine

• Pop registers and temporary storage off stack

• Leave result on stack
• Return to address left by calling routine

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 Stack (continued)

• Definition: context – the region of the stack

that provides the execution environment of
a particular call to a function
• Implementation
• Usually, a linear piece of memory and a stack
pointer contained in a (designated) register
• Occasionally, a linked list
• Recursion
• Stack discipline allows multiple contexts for the
same function in the stack at the same time
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 Stacks in Modern Systems

• All modern programming languages require

a stack
• Fortran and Cobol did not (non-recursive)
• All modern processors provide a designated
stack pointer register
• All modern process address spaces provide
room for a stack
• Able to grow to a large size
• May grow upward or downward
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 Process Address Space (Typical)
0xFFFFFFFF
stack
(dynamically allocated)
SP

Virtual heap
(dynamically allocated)
address space

static data

program code
PC
0x00000000 (text)

See also Silbershatz, figure 3.1

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 Stacks in Multi-threaded Environments

• Every thread requires its own stack

• Separate from all other stacks
• Each stack may grow separately
• Address space must be big enough to accommodate
stacks for all threads

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Stacks in Multi-threaded Address Space
thread 1 stack
SP (T1)
0xFFFFFFFF
thread 2 stack
SP SP (T2)

thread 3 stack
SP (T3)
Virtual
address space heap

static data

0x00000000 PC PC (T2)
code
PC (T1)
(text)
PC (T3)
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 Heap

• A place for allocating memory that is not

part of last-in, first-out discipline
• I.e., dynamically allocated data structures
that survive function calls
• E.g., strings in C
• new objects in C++, Java, etc.

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 Process Address Space (Typical)
0xFFFFFFFF
stack
(dynamically allocated)
SP

Virtual heap
(dynamically allocated)
address space

static data

program code
PC
0x00000000 (text)

See also Silbershatz, figure 3.1

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 Dynamically Allocating from Heap

• malloc() – POSIX standard function

• Allocates a chunk of memory of desired size
• Remembers size
• Returns pointer
• free () – POSIX standard function
• Returns previously allocated chunk to heap for
reallocation
• Assumes that pointer is correct!

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 Dynamically Allocating from Heap

• malloc() – POSIX standard function

• Allocates a chunk of memory of desired size
• Remembers size
• Returns pointer
• free () – POSIX standard function
• Returns previously allocated chunk to heap for
reallocation
• Assumes that pointer is correct!
• Storage leak – failure to free something
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 Heaps in Modern Systems

• Many modern programming languages

require a heap
• C++, Java, etc.
• NOT Fortran
• Typical process environment
• Heap grows toward stack — but never shrinks!
• Multi-threaded environments
• All threads share the same heap
• Data structures may be passed from one thread to
another.
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 Heap in Multi-threaded Address Space
thread 1 stack
SP (T1)
0xFFFFFFFF
thread 2 stack
SP SP (T2)

thread 3 stack
SP (T3)
Virtual
address space heap
Heap

static data

0x00000000 PC PC (T2)
code
PC (T1)
(text)
PC (T3)
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Stacks in Multi-threaded Address Space
thread 1 stack
SP (T1)
0xFFFFFFFF
thread 2 stack
SP SP (T2)

thread 3 stack
SP (T3)
Virtual
?
address space heap t his
at ’s
W h

static data

0x00000000 PC PC (T2)
code
PC (T1)
(text)
PC (T3)
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 Questions?

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