Read: 10 - Gr8-Dayne/seattle-301d60 GitHub Wiki

The Call Stack and Debugging

Call stack defined:

A call stack is a mechanism for an interpreter (like the JavaScript interpreter in a web browser) to keep track of its place in a script that calls multiple functions — what function is currently being run and what functions are called from within that function, etc.

  • When a script calls a function, the interpreter adds it to the call stack and then starts carrying out the function.
  • Any functions that are called by that function are added to the call stack further up, and run where their calls are reached.
  • When the current function is finished, the interpreter takes it off the stack and resumes execution where it left off in the last code listing.
  • If the stack takes up more space than it had assigned to it, it results in a "stack overflow" error.

The key takeaways from the provided articles are:

  1. It is single-threaded. Meaning it can only do one thing at a time.
  2. Code execution is synchronous.
  3. A function invocation creates a stack frame that occupies a temporary memory.
  4. It works as a LIFO — Last In, First Out data structure.

In my own words: A call stack acts as a temporary library for function invocations (calls) and it manages the order in which they are deployed.