{"id":5847,"date":"2018-09-18T15:04:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/stack-overflow\/"},"modified":"2018-09-18T15:04:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:04:39","slug":"stack-overflow","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow","title":{"rendered":"Stack Overflow"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_stack_overflow_mean\">What Does Stack Overflow Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A stack overflow is a runtime error that happens when a program runs out of memory in the call stack. The stack overflow generally signals a problem in resource provisioning and has to be fixed in order to allow the program to run and use memory properly.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_stack_overflow\">Techopedia Explains Stack Overflow<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It is important to point out that a stack overflow is a logical runtime error and not a syntax error. Syntax errors result when the computer cannot read a section of code correctly, and these errors are caught by the compiler or at other key points before production. A stack overflow, on the other hand, happens &ldquo;in the mix&rdquo; and can be hard to figure out.<\/p>\n<p>Stack overflows can be caused by not allocating enough memory to a particular program. They can also be caused by a codebase where the coder or developer did not remember memory limits and programmed the executable to exceed them. Many programmers consider recursive functions as a major culprit: With recursion, the iterative process eats up all of the available memory and then triggers a stack overflow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Stack Overflow Mean? A stack overflow is a runtime error that happens when a program runs out of memory in the call stack. The stack overflow generally signals a problem in resource provisioning and has to be fixed in order to allow the program to run and use memory properly. Techopedia Explains Stack [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[244,216],"class_list":["post-5847","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-programming-languages","definitioncat-software-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Stack Overflow? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Stack Overflow and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stack Overflow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Stack Overflow and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Stack Overflow\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-18T15:04:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow\"},\"wordCount\":192,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/9522\/stack-overflow\",\"name\":\"What is a Stack Overflow? 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