What's the shortest code to cause a stack overflow? [closed]

Answer 1

Python:

so=lambda:so();so()

Alternatively:

def so():so()
so()

And if Python optimized tail calls...:

o=lambda:map(o,o());o()

Answer 2

Here's my C contribution, weighing in at 18 characters:

void o(){o();o();}

This is a lot harder to tail-call optimise! :-P

Answer 3

Javascript

To trim a few more characters, and to get ourselves kicked out of more software shops, let's go with:

eval(i='eval(i)');

Answer 4

In english:

recursion = n. See recursion.

Answer 5

C - It's not the shortest, but it's recursion-free. It's also not portable: it crashes on Solaris, but some alloca() implementations might return an error here (or call malloc()). The call to printf() is necessary.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <alloca.h>
#include <sys/resource.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    struct rlimit rl = {0};
    getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &rl);
    (void) alloca(rl.rlim_cur);
    printf("Goodbye, world\n");
    return 0;
}

Answer 6

All these answers and no Befunge? I'd wager a fair amount it's shortest solution of them all:

1

Not kidding. Try it yourself: http://www.quirkster.com/iano/js/befunge.html

EDIT: I guess I need to explain this one. The 1 operand pushes a 1 onto Befunge's internal stack and the lack of anything else puts it in a loop under the rules of the language.

Using the interpreter provided, you will eventually--and I mean eventually--hit a point where the Javascript array that represents the Befunge stack becomes too large for the browser to reallocate. If you had a simple Befunge interpreter with a smaller and bounded stack--as is the case with most of the languages below--this program would cause a more noticeable overflow faster.