StackOverflowError Exception Test

JVM Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - Version 4.23, by Dr. Herong Yang

JVM Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟StackOverflowError Exception Test

This section provides a tutorial example on how to produce a StackOverflowError exception by doing recursive method calls. With the default setting, Java 8 can hold about 8900 frames in a stack.

From the previous section, we understand that StackOverflowError exception occurs when a thread has too many frames in its stack and there is no room to add a new frame to make the next method call.

The StackOverflowError exception is easy to produce by doing recursive method calls. Here is an example program, StackOverflowTest.java, that will end with a StackOverflowError exception:

/* StackOverflowTest.java
 * Copyright (c) 2014, HerongYang.com, All Rights Reserved.
 */
class StackOverflowTest {
   static long n;
   public static void main(String[] a) {
      n = 0;
      try {
         sub();
      } catch (StackOverflowError e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
         System.out.println("Maximum nested calls: "+n);
      }
   }
   private static void sub() {
      n++;
      sub();
   }
}

Compile and run StackOverflowTest.java, you will get this output:

C:\herong>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.8.0\bin\javac StackOverflowTest.java

C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.8.0\bin\java StackOverflowTest 2> output.txt
Maximum nested calls: 8906

C:\herong>type output.txt
java.lang.StackOverflowError
   at StackOverflowTest.sub(StackOverflowTest.java:18)
   at StackOverflowTest.sub(StackOverflowTest.java:18)
   at StackOverflowTest.sub(StackOverflowTest.java:18)
   ... (1024 repeating lines)

The output tells us that:

StackOverflowError exception is stopping us running infinite recursive method calls.
Java 8 default stack size is big enough to hold 8906 frames, meaning that a thread can make up to 8906 nested method calls.
The printStackTrace() method can only print up to 1024 method calling code lines.

Last update: 2014.

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Downloading and Installing JDK 1.8.0 on Windows

Downloading and Installing JDK 1.7.0 on Windows

java.lang.Runtime Class - The JVM Instance

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ClassLoader Class - Class Loaders

Class Class - Class Reflections

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JRockit JVM 28.2.7 by Oracle Corporation

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