In Java there will be a stacktrace that says StackOverflowError and the whole system won't crash, only the program.
In C I'm aware that an array index out of bounds will produce a segmentation fault. Is it the same for a stack overflow in C and there will also be a segmentation fault i.e. same error type for a similar problem?
I'm not testing a conscious infinite resursion in C to see what happens because I don't know the consequences.
Or is it sometimes something much worse and a stack overflow in C could cause an operating system failure and force you to power cycle to get back? Or even worse, cause irreversible hardware damage? How bad effects can a stack overflow mistake have?
It seems clear that the protection is better in Java than in C. Is it any better in C than in assembly / machine code or is it practically the same (lack of) protection in C as a assembly?
In C I'm aware that an array index out of bounds will produce a segmentation fault. Is it the same for a stack overflow in C and there will also be a segmentation fault i.e. same error type for a similar problem?
There's no guarantee in C that there will be a segmentation fault. The C standard says it's undefined behaviour and leave it at that. How that might manifest, it at all, is up to the implementation/platform.
Or is it sometimes something much worse and a stack overflow in C could cause an operating system failure and force you to power cycle to get back? Or even worse, cause irreversible hardware damage? How bad effects can a stack overflow mistake have?
It's pretty rare on modern Operating systems that anything untoward would happen to the system; typically, only the program would crash. Modern operating systems use various memory protection techniques.
It seems clear that the protection is better in Java than in C. Is it any better in C than in assembly / machine code or is it practically the same (lack of) protection in C as a assembly?
That's because in Java, memory is "managed". In C, it's left to the programmer; it's by design. A C compiler does generate machine code in the end; so it can't be any better or worse. Obviously, a good compiler could detect some of these problems and warn you, which is an advantage in C compared to assembly.