Stack overflow caused by recursive function

Question

I\'m a beginner in C++. Yesterday I read about recursive functions, so I decided to write my own. Here\'s what I wrote:

int returnZero(int anyNumber) {
    if         


        

Answer 1

Any "boundless" recursion, that is recursive calls that aren't naturally limited to a small(ish) number will have this effect. Exactly where the limit goes depends on the OS, the environment the function is called in (the compiler, which function calls the recursive function, etc, etc).

If you add another variable, say int x[10]; to your function that calls your recursive function, the number needed to crash it will change (probably by about 5 or so).

Compile it with a different compiler (or even different compiler settings, e.g. optimization turned on) and it will probably change again.