Definition
Plain language
A printout showing the chain of function calls that led to the exact point where a program crashed or stopped.
As stated in the literature
An ordered record of the active call stack at a given execution point, naming each frame from the fault site back to the entry point; emitted by sanitizers and debuggers as crash evidence.
Also called: stack traces
Why it matters: It points a developer straight to where and how a program failed instead of leaving them to guess.
For example, when an app crashes, the stack trace lists each function involved, showing that the error happened deep inside a date-parsing routine called from the login screen.
Heard on the show
“If the program steps over one, it halts and prints a stack trace.”Episode 014 — Why a Constrained Pipeline Beat a Full Coding Agent at Finding Bugs 30-to-1