Eli5-What does a “stack overflow” mean?

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Eli5-What does a “stack overflow” mean?

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A stack-overflow error is a CPU/OS reported error that a program has tried to allocate too much memory, which is why the OS stops the program from running.

The stack is a structure used by programs to store dynamic data on, mainly to manage data allocation for sub-routines. A program that goes into an infinitive loop calling a sub-routine but never returns, will eventually run out of stack space.

The TL;DR “Stack overflow” -> “out of memory”. Computers have a lot of different kinds of memory which can be confusing.

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