Stack overflow detection in Embedded C - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Stack Overflow Detection

📖 Scenario: You are working on a small embedded system that uses a fixed-size stack to store data temporarily. To keep the system safe, you want to detect if the stack goes beyond its limit, which is called a stack overflow.Imagine the stack as a stack of plates. If you add too many plates, the stack will fall. We want to check if the stack is full before adding more plates.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple program that creates a stack array, sets a maximum size, and checks if the stack is full before pushing new data. If the stack is full, it should print a message saying "Stack Overflow detected!".

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an integer array called stack with size 5.

Create an integer variable called top to track the current top index of the stack.

Create an integer constant called MAX_SIZE and set it to 5.

Write a function called push that takes an integer value and adds it to the stack if there is space.

Inside push, check if top is equal to MAX_SIZE - 1 to detect overflow.

If overflow is detected, print "Stack Overflow detected!".

If there is space, add the value to the stack and update top.

In main, push 6 values to test the overflow detection.

Print the stack contents after all pushes.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Embedded systems often use fixed-size stacks for temporary data storage. Detecting stack overflow prevents crashes and data corruption.

💼 Career

Understanding stack overflow detection is important for embedded software developers to write safe and reliable code for devices like sensors, controllers, and IoT gadgets.

1

Create the stack array and top index

Create an integer array called stack with size 5 and an integer variable called top initialized to -1.

Embedded C

int stack[5];
int top = -1;
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Think of top as the position of the last item in the stack. Starting at -1 means the stack is empty.

2

Define the maximum stack size

Create an integer constant called MAX_SIZE and set it to 5.

Embedded C

int stack[5];
int top = -1;
const int MAX_SIZE = 5;
// Your code here

Need a hint?

This constant tells us the maximum number of items the stack can hold.

3

Write the push function with overflow check

Write a function called push that takes an integer value. Inside, check if top == MAX_SIZE - 1. If true, print "Stack Overflow detected!". Otherwise, increase top by 1 and add value to stack[top].

Embedded C

int stack[5];
int top = -1;
const int MAX_SIZE = 5;

void push(int value) {
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Check if the stack is full before adding a new value. Use printf to show the overflow message.

4

Test pushing values and print the stack

In main, push the values 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 using push. Then, print all values in stack from index 0 to top separated by spaces.

Embedded C

#include 

int stack[5];
int top = -1;
const int MAX_SIZE = 5;

void push(int value) {
    if (top == MAX_SIZE - 1) {
        printf("Stack Overflow detected!\n");
    } else {
        top++;
        stack[top] = value;
    }
}

int main() {
    // Your code here
    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Push six values to test overflow. Then print all values in the stack separated by spaces.