Whats difference between stack and heap in C#?

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COHENMARVIN@lycos.com - 11 Mar 2008 16:59 GMT

I'm reading that the stack is where 'value' types are created, and the
heap is where reference objects are allocated but I'm wondering if
these are just 2 arbitrary sections of memory, or there is more to it.
Also on a somewhat related topic, in C++ I've read that a DLL is in a
separate section of memory with its own variables. Is this true also
in C#? If you have 10 assemblies all calling the same DLL, where are
the 10 copies of the DLL variables kept? And what is the relationship
between DLL and assemblies? Is a DLL just a module in an assembly?
Thanks,
Marvin

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Jon Skeet [C# MVP] - 11 Mar 2008 17:05 GMT

On Mar 11, 3:59 pm, COHENMAR...@lycos.com wrote:

> I'm reading that the stack is where 'value' types are created, and the
> heap is where reference objects are allocated but I'm wondering if
> these are just 2 arbitrary sections of memory, or there is more to it.

Well, there's slightly more to it - and there's certainly more to it
than "value types go on the stack" but broadly speaking you only need
to worry about stack vs heap.

It can be argued (http://csharpindepth.com/ViewNote.aspx?NoteID=41)
that you shouldn't care even that far. That sounds okay until your
stack overflows :)

> Also on a somewhat related topic, in C++ I've read that a DLL is in a
> separate section of memory with its own variables. Is this true also
> in C#? If you have 10 assemblies all calling the same DLL, where are
> the 10 copies of the DLL variables kept? And what is the relationship
> between DLL and assemblies? Is a DLL just a module in an assembly?

There aren't 10 different copies - there'll just be the one, assuming
you've only got a single AppDomain.

A DLL is usually a whole assembly, not just a module.

Jon

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Whats difference between stack and heap in C#?

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