storing objects, stack and heap

Question 1

what is a process

Answer 1

an instance of a program being executed

Question 2

what does contiguous mean

Answer 2

together

Question 3

what does a process use

Answer 3

each process may use groups of locations that are not contiguous

Question 4

what is each process allocated

Answer 4

each process is allocated its own portion of main memory by the operating system

Question 5

where are global variables stored

Answer 5

data

Question 6

what is stored in data

Answer 6

global variables

Question 7

what is stored in stack

Answer 7

local variables, return addresses and parameter values

Question 8

what is stored in heap

Answer 8

dynamically allocated objects (strings, arrays, lists)

Question 9

what is the zone in between the stack and heap sections

Answer 9

the buffer

Question 10

what is stored in text

Answer 10

code eg visual studio code

Question 11

what are the 2 purposes of the call stack

Answer 11

• keep track of which line in the code to return to when a subroutine call terminates
• to keep track of the values of local variables and parameters specific to that subroutine call

Question 12

what is step 1 of storing objects

Answer 12

the location of the first item is put into the stack

Question 13

what is step 2 of storing objects

Answer 13

that location in the heap is found, along with the next one. They come as a pair

Question 14

what is step 3 of storing objects

Answer 14

the first location is assigned a value
the second is left empty so it can be used to connect with another location

Question 15

what is step 4 of storing objects

Answer 15

as more numbers are added, more locations in the heap are linked and filled

Question 16

what is the role of the second linking location in the heap

Answer 16

its address registry links to others

Question 17

where are variables stored

Answer 17

the stack only

Question 18

where are objects stored

Answer 18

in the heap

Question 19

where is object reference stored

Answer 19

in the stack

Question 20

what is the heap

Answer 20

relatively unstructured pool of memory ready to use for storing data for objects

Question 21

what happens when a new object is created in the heap

Answer 21

the heap grows in size

Question 22

what happens when all references to an object no longer exists

Answer 22

the memory will be freed back to the unallocated pool
heap shrinks

Question 23

what causes the heap to shrink

Answer 23

when all references to an object no longer exists
that memory will be freed back to the unallocated pool

Question 24

what causes the memory to be freed back to the unallocated pool

Answer 24

when all references to an object no longer exists

Question 25

what causes a heap to grow in size

Answer 25

when a new object is created

Question 26

what happens to the reference when a new object is created

Answer 26

the reference to that object s returned in code

Question 27

where is the reference stored

Answer 27

in the call stack