Where is the Heap created by JIT (C#)

Question

I always had this question that where (RAM / HARD DISK / some other (?) ) is the Heap located ?

if i load a 2 GB file via code in memory then where will it go ?

Also where is this "stack" located in physical place ? RAM ?

Can someone from actual implementation team can let us know this ? because what most people says is its RAM . But i wanted to really really know where and how both ? Please share some good articles if it's difficult to answer it here .

No need fo the miplementation team. Heap and Stack are standard things beginner low level probgrammers must know - that is beginners working on low level assembler style programming. — TomTom, Mar 20 '12 at 12:08

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 20 '12 at 12:18

I would recommend reading the following article:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

The .NET heap is just a part of your application's user address space. So whether it (and all objects allocated in it) is currently in RAM or on disk depends on the current memory pressure of the whole system and the VMM's decisions. Also parts of the heap can be in RAM and other parts on disk at the same time.

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

2

What and where are the stack-and-heap

This question and its answers explains it in very great detail. It covers both, the stack and the heap. How its used, the differences etc. It also has nice graphics!

edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

Community

1
1

answered Mar 20 '12 at 12:27

Alex

7,901
1
41
56

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 20 '12 at 12:07

0

When you run a .NET exe, it loads MSCorEE.dll which will host the CLR. CLR will create stack and heap in the process memory. It will look after asking for more memory for the process if it needs it.

They will be located in RAM, although operating system will abstract it from you (e.g. it could be on a swap file).

answered Mar 20 '12 at 12:07

Aliostad

80,612
21
160
208

and where is this process memory located? – Dhananjay Mar 20 '12 at 12:08
In memory. Where else do you think? though using virtual manager the OS may decide to move it to hard disc into the swap file. – TomTom Mar 20 '12 at 12:09

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 20 '12 at 12:07

if you load 2GB file memory of .NET process it will crash on 32bit system, as the framework approximately holds 1.2GB on 32bit systems.

The memories you're talking about are in RAM for .NET managed assemblies. For others, due the possible memory swapping, made by OS itself in low RAM memory conditions, could partialy finish on Disk space.

Where is the Heap created by JIT (C#)

4 Answers4