Difference Between Stack and Heap

In this post, we will understand the difference between Stack and Heap

Stack

• It is a linear data structure.

• Memory is allocated in a contiguous (continuous) block.

• The memory for a stack is allocated and deallocated automatically using the instructions of the compiler.

• It costs less to build and maintain a stack.

• It is easy to implement.

• It is fixed in size; hence it is not flexible.

• Its only disadvantage is the shortage of memory, since it is fixed in size.

• If all the blocks are not occupied, memory gets wasted too.

• It takes less time to access the elements of a stack.

• It has an excellent locality of reference.

Heap

• It is a hierarchical data structure.

• Memory is allocated in a random fashion.

• The memory is allocated and deallocated manually by the programmer.

• It is costly to build and maintain a heap.

• It is difficult to implement a heap structure.

• It takes more time to access elements of a heap.

• The disadvantage of heap is fragmentation of memory.

• Resizing is possible in heap.

• Hence, memory is not wasted.

• It has adequate locality of reference.

A process inside main memory −