Call stack behavior in Javascript - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding Call Stack Behavior in JavaScript

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are baking a cake and following a recipe step-by-step. Each step must finish before moving to the next. In programming, the call stack works similarly, keeping track of which function is running and what to do next.

🎯 Goal: You will write a simple JavaScript program with three functions calling each other. You will observe how the call stack works by printing messages when entering and exiting each function.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create three functions named first, second, and third.

Each function should print a message when it starts and when it ends.

The first function should call second, and second should call third.

Call the first function to start the chain.

Print the messages in the correct order to show call stack behavior.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Understanding the call stack helps debug errors and understand how programs run step-by-step.

💼 Career

Many programming jobs require understanding function calls and debugging call stack errors.

1

Create the third function

Write a function called third that prints "Entering third" when it starts and "Exiting third" when it ends.

Javascript

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use console.log to print messages inside the third function.

2

Create the second function that calls third

Write a function called second that prints "Entering second" when it starts, then calls the third function, and finally prints "Exiting second" when it ends.

Javascript

function third() {
    console.log("Entering third");
    console.log("Exiting third");
}

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Call the third() function between the two console.log statements.

3

Create the first function that calls second

Write a function called first that prints "Entering first" when it starts, then calls the second function, and finally prints "Exiting first" when it ends.

Javascript

function third() {
    console.log("Entering third");
    console.log("Exiting third");
}

function second() {
    console.log("Entering second");
    third();
    console.log("Exiting second");
}

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Call the second() function between the two console.log statements.

4

Call the first function and observe output

Write a line of code to call the first function to start the chain of calls and print all messages.

Javascript

function third() {
    console.log("Entering third");
    console.log("Exiting third");
}

function second() {
    console.log("Entering second");
    third();
    console.log("Exiting second");
}

function first() {
    console.log("Entering first");
    second();
    console.log("Exiting first");
}

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Simply write first(); to start the function calls.