> -----Original Message-----
> From: PCSOFT - PC software discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Roy Schriftman, MS,
> MBA
>
> At 12:10 AM 4/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
> >Can someone expand on what the stack setting is all about..???
> >thanks,
> >Dave Hurst
> >
> The variable A is allocated in a memory stack each time the subroutine is
> called.  In the above case an infinite number of times.  The stacks
> configuration command puts a limit on this process and the program will
> crash when the limit is exceeded.
>
> Think of the stack as each time a process is started it takes a new piece
> of paper from the stack to record any data unique to the process.  The
> stack is the number of pieces of paper you start with.
>

Yes and no.

I like Roy's analogy to a stack of paper BUT...
He has it backwards.  When a piece of paper is written on, it is saved
TO the stack not taken off of it.  And the stack number is the maximum
size of the storage area not how many sheets of paper you start with.

A stack is simply a RAM memory area that the CPU or application
(in this case, Windows) reserves and uses for storage of temporary
data.  It is used in a LIFO (last in first out) manner (hence the name
stack) which means that it must pull off the top "sheet" first when
retrieving the stored data.

Granted, the history feature of a web browser is much more complex
and has other features, but for demonstration purposes....

An example of how a stack functions, is the BACK button on
your web browser.  Each time you move to a new web page,
your browser records the address of the previous page on a "sheet"
and puts it on the stack.  Then each time you press the BACK button,
the browser retrieves the top sheet from the "stack".