The Call Stack in JavaScript

The way control flows through functions is somewhat involved. Let’s take a closer look at it. Here is a simple program that makes a few function calls:

function greet(who) { console.log(“Hello ” + who);

}

greet(“Harry”);

console.log(“Bye”);

A run through this program goes roughly like this: the call to greet causes control to jump to the start of that function (line 2). The function calls console.log, which takes control, does its job, and then returns control to line 2. There it reaches the end of the greet function, so it returns to the place that called it, which is line 4. The line after that calls console.log again. After that returns, the program reaches its end.

We could show the flow of control schematically like this:

not in function

in greet

in console.log

in greet

not in function

in console.log

not in function

Because a function has to jump back to the place that called it when it returns, the computer must remember the context from which the call hap­pened. In one case, console.log has to return to the greet function when it is done. In the other case, it returns to the end of the program.

The place where the computer stores this context is the call stack. Every time a function is called, the current context is stored on top of this stack. When a function returns, it removes the top context from the stack and uses that context to continue execution.

Storing this stack requires space in the computer’s memory. When the stack grows too big, the computer will fail with a message like “out of stack space” or “too much recursion.” The following code illustrates this by asking the computer a really hard question that causes an infinite back-and-forth between two functions. Rather, it would be infinite, if the computer had an infinite stack. As it is, we will run out of space, or “blow the stack.”

function chicken() {

return egg();

}

function egg() {

return chicken();

}

console.log(chicken() + ” came first.”);

// → ??

Source: Haverbeke Marijn (2018), Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming,

No Starch Press; 3rd edition.

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