When do you worry about stack size?

Question

When you are programming in a language that allows you to use automatic allocation for very large objects, when and how do you worry about stack size? Are there any rules o

Answer 1

I have had problems running out of stack space when:

• A function accidentally calls itself
• A function uses recursion to a deep level
• A function allocates a large object on the stack, and there is a heap.
• A function uses complicated templates and the compiler crashes

Provided I:

• Allocate large objects on the heap (eg. using "auto_ptr foo = new Foo" instead of "Foo foo")
• Use recursion judiciously.

I don't normally have any problems, so unfortunately don't know what good defaults should be.