Once the stack memory falls outside of memory can lead to abnormal termination of the program, whereas in the case of the heap, being unable to free the memory in a heap can lead to memory leak issues as that memory will not get freed.Implementing the stack is comparatively less costlier than the heap memory in C++.The main issue that can happen in the case of the stack is the memory shortage, whereas, in a heap, the main issue is fragmentation as the memory is allocated and released again and again.Stack is comparatively more flexible than heap as once the memory allocated for the stack cannot be changed, whereas, in the case of the heap, there is dynamic memory allocation so that the size can be altered.In order to release the memory, the programmer has to use the free() method, whereas in the case of Stack, memory allocated to store the variables and function data is released automatically by the compiler once the function execution ends. Heap supports dynamic memory allocation with the use of malloc() and calloc() keywords.Stack is basically the region in the computer memory, which is automatically managed by the computer in order to store the local variables, methods and its data used by the function, whereas the heap is the free-floating region of memory which is neither automatically managed by the CPU nor by the programmer.Let us discuss some of the major key differences between C++ Stack vs Heap: A programmer has to free the memory when using the heap once the task is performed using the free() method. All the global variables are by default stored in the heap memory. Memory is allocated in the random order, and the pointers are used in order to access the data. It allows the dynamic memory allocation, which is allocated at the time of execution of instructions using the malloc() and calloc() methods. Heap is a free-floating region of the memory which is not totally managed by the CPU, but the programmer has to manage it. One of the biggest advantages (being a programmer) of using the stack is that the CPU manages the memory at the time of allocation or de-allocation (freed) the memory. Stack has access to the local variables only. Once the function execution/call is done, all the function data and variables are freed up. Every new function variable, once declared, it is pushed into the stack memory. It is managed by the CPU and stores all the local variables created by the function and stack them one above the other. Stack is the data structure which follows the LIFO (Last In First Out) strategy. The following article provides an outline for C++ Stack vs Heap.
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