Programming Microsoft® Visual C#® 2008: The Language

Evaluation Stack

The evaluation stack, which is mentioned often in the preceding description of the "Hello World!" application, is the pivotal structure of MSIL applications. It is the bridge between your application and memory locations. It is similar to the conventional stack frame, but there are salient differences. The evaluation stack holds function parameters, local variables, temporary objects, and much more. In .NET, function parameters and local variables are stored in separate repositories, where memory is reserved for them. You cannot access the function parameter or local variable repositories directly. Accessing them requires moving data from memory to slots on the evaluation stack using a load command. Conversely, you update a local ...