Practice Allocating Offsets To Variables Within An Activation Record (6.4.1) - Run-time Support - The Engine of Execution
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Allocating Offsets to Variables within an Activation Record

Practice - Allocating Offsets to Variables within an Activation Record

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Practice Questions

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Question 1 Easy

What is the purpose of an activation record?

💡 Hint: Think about what data a function needs during its execution.

Question 2 Easy

How does the Frame Pointer (FP) assist in accessing variables?

💡 Hint: Consider how the FP is used in conjunction with offsets.

4 more questions available

Interactive Quizzes

Quick quizzes to reinforce your learning

Question 1

What does the Frame Pointer (FP) do?

A) Points to the start of the stack
B) Provides a stable reference for offsets
C) Manages memory allocation

💡 Hint: Consider its role in accessing variables within an activation record.

Question 2

True or False: Local variables are stored at positive offsets in an activation record.

True
False

💡 Hint: Think about how the stack grows when parameters are pushed.

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Challenge Problems

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Challenge 1 Hard

If a function has three parameters (each needing 4 bytes) and two local variables (each needing 8 bytes), calculate the total size of the activation record including a 4-byte return address and the size needed for saved registers. Provide the offset for each variable if the FP starts at 1000.

💡 Hint: Calculate based on each variable's size and determine their respective offsets from the FP.

Challenge 2 Hard

Explain how the allocation of offsets in an activation record can affect recursive function calls. Use an example to illustrate.

💡 Hint: Consider how memory management ensures each generation persists its own data.

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Reference links

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