Stack for Local Variables
Explore the concept of the stack as used for local variables in C programming. Understand why the stack grows downwards, how local variables are pushed and popped during function calls, and why non-static variables do not retain values between calls. Learn the role of static local variables, their placement in memory sections distinct from the stack, and their behavior throughout program execution.
We'll cover the following...
Introduction
We’ll look at how the compiler places variables on a stack. Before doing that, we need to learn one more difference between regular stack data structures and the stack used for variables.
Stack grows downward
With a regular stack, we keep adding elements at the top, and the stack becomes taller and taller. We say that the stack grows upwards.
However, for historical reasons, the stack used for variables grows downwards. This behavior doesn’t have any implications for us. But, for accuracy, we’ll represent the stack as growing downwards, not upwards.
Exploring the stack for local variables
Let’s write some code using non-static local variables.
In ...