Why does this recursive method cause a Stack Overflow error when it has no variables?

Question

I have recursive method like this, which doesn't contain any variable. Why is it throwing a stack overflow exception?

class MainClass
{
    static void Main() => Bark();

    static void Bark() { Bark(); }
}

in the example above, I did not create any variables. If I create any variable(either as a parameter or inside a method), then this is understandable: many variables have been created in the thread's stack, and due to the lack of memory, I get an error.

I don't understand, is the method itself is also stored on the stack? Why am I getting the error?

Answer 1

The stack frame does not just contain parameters, it also contains a return address, so that the processor knows where to go back to.

Furthermore, the hidden this pointer is also a parameter. To remove that you would need a static function.

There is also the ebp or other stack-frame pointer, which can be pushed onto the stack for each call, depending on the exact calling convention.

So whatever you do, you will definitely get a stack overflow at some point, unless the compiler decides to perform tail-recursion.