Question

I am allocating 2 same size arrays, one on stack, one on heap, then iterating over them with trivial assignment.

Executable is compiled to allocate 40mb for main thread stack.

This code has only been tested to compile in vc++ with /STACK:41943040 linker tag.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <malloc.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <ctime>

using namespace std;

size_t stackavail()
{
    static unsigned StackPtr;   // top of stack ptr
    __asm mov [StackPtr],esp    // mov pointer to top of stack
    static MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION mbi;            // page range
    VirtualQuery((PVOID)StackPtr,&mbi,sizeof(mbi)); // get range
    return StackPtr-(unsigned)mbi.AllocationBase;   // subtract from top (stack grows downward on win)
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    string input;

    cout << "Allocating 22mb on stack." << endl;
    unsigned int start = clock();
    char eathalfastack[23068672]; // approx 22mb
    auto length = sizeof(eathalfastack)/sizeof(char);
    cout << "Time taken in ms: " << clock()-start << endl;

    cout << "Setting through array." << endl;
    start = clock();
    for( int i = 0; i < length; i++ ){
        eathalfastack[i] = i;
    }
    cout << "Time taken in ms: " << clock()-start << endl;
    cout << "Free stack space: " << stackavail() << endl;


    cout << "Allocating 22mb on heap." << endl;
    start = clock();
    // auto* heaparr = new int[23068672]; // corrected
    auto* heaparr = new byte[23068672];
    cout << "Time taken in ms: " << clock()-start << endl;

    start = clock();
    cout << "Setting through array." << endl;
    for( int i = 0; i < length; i++ ){
        heaparr[i] = i;
    }
    cout << "Time taken in ms: " << clock()-start << endl;

    delete[] heaparr;
    getline(cin, input);
}

The output is this:

    Allocating 22mb on stack.
    Time taken in ms: 0
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 45
    Free stack space: 18872076
    Allocating 22mb on heap.
    Time taken in ms: 20
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 35

Why is iteration of stack array slower than same thing on heap?

EDIT:
nneonneo cought my error

Now output is identical:

    Allocating 22mb on stack.
    Time taken in ms: 0
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 42
    Free stack space: 18871952
    Allocating 22mb on heap.
    Time taken in ms: 4
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 41

Release build per Öö Tiib’s answer below:

    Allocating 22mb on stack.
    Time taken in ms: 0
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 5
    Free stack space: 18873508
    Allocating 22mb on heap.
    Time taken in ms: 0
    Setting through array.
    Time taken in ms: 10

Answer 1

Something is wrong with your PC, on mine ages old Pentium 4 it takes 15 ms to assign such stack-based char array. Did you try with debug version or something?