Question

Hello android/Java developers,

When a function call a function and that function call another one and so on, how many calls (stack length) would get me into stack over flow? Is there a general rule of thumb?

The reason i am asking is because I am now which is more efficient(design wise) for my 5 players cards game

Solution 1:

for(int i=0;i<100;i++){
         p1.play();
         p2.play();
         p3.play();
         p4.play();
}

Solution 2:

   p1.play();    //where p1.play() calls p2.play() and so on until p4 calls p1 again.   
                 // this will go on for 100 times

I prefer solution 2 so if there is a crash I can see all the function calls from p1 at i=0 till p4 at i=100

but with solution 1, the stack is much shorter but when there is a crash I will see on the beginning of the loops a the called function play() where crash happened

What do you suggest? I know it is kinda 2 questions in 1 but they are very related

Thank you all

Answer 1

In my experience, a stack overflow in Java is almost always due to a programming error. See typical sizes here.

Now, your second solution is, IMO, quite ugly… almost a programming error. Assuming N=100 is (sort of) the duration of your game, it sounds just wrong that the memory consumption (stack size) increases with it. I don’t like that solution at all.

when there is a crash I will see on the beginning of the loops a the
called function play() where crash happened

I don’t see the real advantage. Why not put a try catch block so that in case of a crash you can print out the iteration number?