JVM Stack, Frame and Stack Overflow

JVM Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟JVM Stack, Frame and Stack Overflow

This chapter provides tutorial notes and example codes on JVM stack, frame and stack overflow. Topics include introduction of JVM stacks and frames; condition of StackOverflow exception; setting stack size limit with -Xss; estimating frame size; impact of stack size on JVM footprint; stack area expansion and limitation; stack behavior difference between HotSpot and JRockit.

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What Is JVM Stack?

StackOverflowError Exception Test

-Xss JVM Option for Stack Size

Frame Impact of Extra Statements

JVM Stack Expansion and Footprint

JVM Stack Expansion and OutOfMemoryError

Largest Stack Size for HotSpot on Windows

Default Stack Sizes of HotSpot and JRockit

JRockit Frame Size Smaller than HotSpot

JRockit Expanding Stacks in Bigger Chunks

JRockit Running Out Of Memory Quicker

Largest Stack Size for JRockit on Windows

Takeaways:

JVM creates one stack per execution thread.
For each nested method call, a new frame added on the top of the stack to store local variables, partial results and method call data.
The stack size can be limited by the -Xss option.
JVM footprint increases when more frames are added or more stacks are added.
32-bit Windows system can only support applications with up to 1.5 GB of memory.
JRockit uses smaller frames but uses heap memory to help making nested method calls.