Summary
Jason explains the fundamental differences between stack and heap memory allocation, noting that while the C++ standard doesn't explicitly define these concepts, they're important for understanding performance. Automatic variables (lexically scoped) typically live on the stack with addresses that decrease as allocation increases, while dynamic variables (new/delete) live on the heap with increasing addresses. Stack variables are faster because their addresses can be computed as simple offsets from the stack pointer, often allowing complete optimization away, whereas heap variables require calls to operator new and pointer indirections. Stack space is limited by compiler/OS settings, while heap space is limited by virtual memory addressing.
Related C++ Standard Sections
This episode covers topics found in these sections of the C++ standard:
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[c.malloc]46% match