How to increase stack size in Bloodshed Dev-C++? - c

We are using Blodshed Dev-C++ to in an image processing project. We are implementing connected component labelling on a video frame. We have to use a recursive function which recurses so many times that we get a stackoverflow. How can we have a larger stack size? Is it possible to change it through some linker parameters or anything similar?
void componentLabel(int i,int j,IplImage *img){
// blueFrame = img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3];
// greenFrame = img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3+1];
// redFrame = img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3+2];
if(!( img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3]==0 && img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3+1]==0 && img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3+2]==0 ) ){
//printf("iffffff aq\n");
return;
}
else{
//printf("else aq %d\n",sayac_label);
img->imageData[i*3*width+j*3]=1;
new_object.pixel_count=new_object.pixel_count+1;
new_object.total_row=new_object.total_row+i;
new_object.total_col=new_object.total_col+j;
if(j<width-1 ){
componentLabel(i,j+1,img);
}
if(j>0 ){
componentLabel(i,j-1,img);
}
if(i<height-1 ){
if(i>new_object.bottom.satir){
new_object.bottom.satir=i;
new_object.bottom.sutun=j;
}
componentLabel(i+1,j,img);
}
if(i>0 ){
if(i<new_object.top.satir){
new_object.top.satir=i;
new_object.top.sutun=j;
}
return componentLabel(i-1,j,img);
}
}

Only one approach will guarantee that you won't run out of stack size - reformulate the algorithm to be tail recursive (and ensure that your compiler is optimizing tail calls - usually an -O3 (or -O2?) optimization flag).
Short of that, have you increased the maximum stack size that the shell will grant your task?
ulimit -s <maximum stack size>

Related

How do we handle freeing a BST when malloc fails in the middle of our recursive build?

I've done some looking around and can't really find a good source that even addresses the idea.
First: It's well known that we should always check if malloc() and realloc() return null. This is commonly done in some way similar to:
Word* temp;
if ((temp = (Word*)malloc(sizeof(Word))) == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "unable to malloc for node.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
However, we also generally build binary search trees in a recursive manner, like so:
void buildTree(Word** tree, const char* input) {
//See if we have found the spot to insert the node.
//Do this by checking for NULL
if (!(*tree)) {
*tree = createNode(input);
return;
}
//else, move left or right accordingly.
if (strcmp(input, (*tree)->data) < 0)
buildTree(&(*tree)->left, input);
else
buildTree(&(*tree)->right, input);
return;
}
So, what do we do if we start working with massive data sets and malloc() fails to allocate memory in the middle of that recursive buildTree function? I've tried a number of things from keeping track of a "global error" flag and a "global head" node pointer and it just seems to be more and more messy the more I try. Examples working with building BSTs rarely seem to give any thought to malloc() failing, so they aren't really helpful in this regard.
I can logically see that one answer is "Don't use recursion and return the head of the tree each time." and while I can see why that would work, I'm an undergraduate TA and one of the things we use BSTs to teach is recursion. So, saying "don't use recursion" to my students when we are TEACHING recursion would be self-defeating.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or links would be greatly appreciated.
We usually use a return error and let the caller free it, after all it could very well free other non critical resources and try to insert the node again.
#define BUILD_OK 0
#define BUILD_FAILED 1
int buildTree(Word** tree, const char* input) {
int res;
//See if we have found the spot to insert the node.
//Do this by checking for NULL
if (!(*tree)) {
if (!(*tree = createNode(input)))
return BUILD_FAILED;
//Maybe other checks
return BUILD_OK;
}
//else, move left or right accordingly.
if (strcmp(input, (*tree)->data) < 0)
res = buildTree(&(*tree)->left, input);
else
res = buildTree(&(*tree)->right, input);
return res;
}

Deep recursion error

I have a problem with too deep recursion in c (I'm using Codeblocks). Around recursion depth of 73000 the message Segmentation fault (core dumped) is occurring. The deepest possible recursion depth is size*size (look at code for size). In my case size=500, so deepest possible recursion is 250000. The function that is run recursively is written below:
void sosedi(int *h, int spin, int k, int l, int rec, gsl_rng * r1){
rec+=1;
if(rec>70000) printf("%d\n",rec);
double tc=2.269185;
double temp = tc*0.5;
*(h+k*size+l)=-*(h+k*size+l);
if(k!=size-2 && *(h+(k+1)*size+l)==spin && pow(2.71828182845904523536, -2*J/temp) < gsl_rng_uniform (r1) ){
sosedi(h,spin,k+1,l,rec,r1);
}
if(k!=1 && *(h+(k-1)*size+l)==spin && pow(2.71828182845904523536, -2*J/temp) < gsl_rng_uniform (r1) ){
sosedi(h,spin,k-1,l,rec,r1);
}
if(l!=size-2 && *(h+k*size+l+1)==spin && pow(2.71828182845904523536, -2*J/temp) < gsl_rng_uniform (r1) ){
sosedi(h,spin,k,l+1,rec,r1);
}
if(l!=1 && *(h+k*size+l-1)==spin && pow(2.71828182845904523536, -2*J/temp) < gsl_rng_uniform (r1) ){
sosedi(h,spin,k,l-1,rec,r1);
}
}
I have been searching for a solution and have come across two solutions. First is to write
--stack="some big number"
in project -> build options -> linker settings -> other linker options, but it doesn't work.
The other option is to use ulimit -s unlimited. I know how to use it in terminal, but don't know how to use this command in codeblocks.
I am not sure recursion depth is causing this error, but the code works for size = 100 and size=200.
Thanks for help.
You appear to be a victim of stack overflow.
You should revisit your code logic and try to use some alternative to avoid or minimize recursion or use some technique similar to tail recursion which is optimized by many compilers.
You may also want to read How to convert a recursive function to use a stack
Ok, I solved the problem. I used setrlimit function. Here
is a very nice description on how to use it.

Whether code is read from top to bottom

I am creating a program in c which is based on a linked list, where every node (of struct) holds an integer and a pointer to the next node.
I use dynamic allocation (malloc) and deallocation (free) as new nodes are added and old nodes are deleted.
when a node is deleted a function named delete is called.
I discovered that the program crashes sometimes when this delete-function is called and I KNOW that its something with the pointers in the method but I dont know WHERE in the code (row number) and WHY this happends.
I am used to high-level languages such as Java and I am used to encircle the problem by putting print-syntax at certain places in the method just to reveal WHERE it crashes.
I thought I could do the same with c and with pointer because to my knowledge I beleive the code is read from top to bottom that is 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. (maybe interrupt handlers behave another way?)
So in this function named delete I have gone so far by putting this printf() at the very beginning of the delete-function - and all the same the program crashes.
So my Question - is it really possible that its some syntax in the delete-function (when I loop pointers for instance) that causes the crash WHEN not even the printf() is printing?
Am I wrong when I believe that the program is executed from to to bottom - that is 1, 2, 3 ....
You can se my printf-function in the very beginning of delete-function
And by the way - how could I solve this problem when I get this cryptic crash message from windows? See the bitmap!!
Greatful for answers!!!
int delete(int data) {
printf("IN THE BEGINNING OF DELETE!!!");
int result = 0;
if (queueref.last != NULL) {
node *curr_ptr;
node *prev_ptr;
node *temp_ptr;
if (queueref.first->data == data) {
temp_ptr = queueref.first;
queueref.first = queueref.first->next;
destroy_node(temp_ptr);
result = 1;
if (queueref.first == NULL) {
queueref.last = NULL;
puts("queue is now empty!!!");
}
} else {
prev_ptr = queueref.first;
curr_ptr = queueref.first->next;
printf("prev_ptr: %d\n", prev_ptr);
printf("curr_ptr: %d\n", curr_ptr);
while(curr_ptr != NULL) {
if (curr_ptr->data == data) {
result = 1;
if (curr_ptr->next != NULL) {
temp_ptr = curr_ptr;
destroy_node(temp_ptr);
prev_ptr->next = curr_ptr->next;
} else {
temp_ptr = curr_ptr;
queueref.last = prev_ptr;
prev_ptr->next = NULL;
destroy_node(temp_ptr);
}
}
curr_ptr = curr_ptr->next;
prev_ptr = prev_ptr->next;
}
}
}
return result;
}
Common mistake, here's the deal. This
printf("IN THE BEGINNING OF DELETE!!!");
needs to be
printf("IN THE BEGINNING OF DELETE!!!\n");
^^ note the newline
The reason is because stdio does not flush stdout until it sees a newline. If you add that newline, you should see the printf when the code enters the function. Without it, the program could crash, the stdout buffer would not have been flushed and would not see the printf.
Your code seems to have lots of implementation flaws. As a general advice I would recommend using some standard well-tested queue support library and static code analyzers (in this case you would even find dynamic analyzer valgrind very helpful, I guess).
For example, if implementation of destroy_node(ptr) is equivalent to free(ptr), then your code suffers from referencing destroyed data (or ,in other words, garbage) in this code snippet:
while(curr_ptr != NULL) {
if (curr_ptr->data == data) {
result = 1;
if (curr_ptr->next != NULL) {
temp_ptr = curr_ptr;
destroy_node(temp_ptr);
prev_ptr->next = curr_ptr->next; //<- curr_ptr is still in stack
//or register, but curr->next
//is garbage
// what if curr_ptr is first node? did you forget to update queueref.first?
} else {
temp_ptr = curr_ptr;
queueref.last = prev_ptr;
prev_ptr->next = NULL;
destroy_node(temp_ptr);
}
// if you you need to destroy only one node - you can leave the loop here with break;
}
curr_ptr = curr_ptr->next; /// assigning garbage again if node is found
prev_ptr = prev_ptr->next;
The reason why using destroyed data can work in * most * (if I can say that, basically this is unpredictable) cases is that the chances that this memory can be reused by other part of program for dynamically allocated data can vary on timings and code flow.
PS
Regarding cryptic messages in the Windows box - when program crashes OS basically generates crashdump and prints registers (and dumps some relevant memory parts). Registers and memory dumps can show the place of crash and immediate register/stack values but you have to now memory map and assembler output to understand it. Crashdump can be loaded to debugger (WinDbg) together with unstripped binary to check stactrace and values of local variables at the moment of crash. All these I described very very briefly, you could find tons of books / guides searching for "windows crash or crashdump analysis"

How to make external Mathematica functions interruptible?

I had an earlier question about integrating Mathematica with functions written in C++.
This is a follow-up question:
If the computation takes too long I'd like to be able to abort it using Evaluation > Abort Evaluation. Which of the technologies suggested in the answers make it possible to have an interruptible C-based extension function? How can "interruptibility" be implemented on the C side?
I need to make my function interruptible in a way which will corrupt neither it, nor the Mathematica kernel (i.e. it should be possible to call the function again from Mathematica after it has been interrupted)
For MathLink - based functions, you will have to do two things (On Windows): use MLAbort to check for aborts, and call MLCallYieldFunction, to yield the processor temporarily. Both are described in the MathLink tutorial by Todd Gayley from way back, available here.
Using the bits from my previous answer, here is an example code to compute the prime numbers (in an inefficient manner, but this is what we need here for an illustration):
code =
"
#include <stdlib.h>
extern void primes(int n);
static void yield(){
MLCallYieldFunction(
MLYieldFunction(stdlink),
stdlink,
(MLYieldParameters)0 );
}
static void abort(){
MLPutFunction(stdlink,\" Abort \",0);
}
void primes(int n){
int i = 0, j=0,prime = 1, *d = (int *)malloc(n*sizeof(int)),ctr = 0;
if(!d) {
abort();
return;
}
for(i=2;!MLAbort && i<=n;i++){
j=2;
prime = 1;
while (!MLAbort && j*j <=i){
if(i % j == 0){
prime = 0;
break;
}
j++;
}
if(prime) d[ctr++] = i;
yield();
}
if(MLAbort){
abort();
goto R1;
}
MLPutFunction(stdlink,\"List\",ctr);
for(i=0; !MLAbort && i < ctr; i++ ){
MLPutInteger(stdlink,d[i]);
yield();
}
if(MLAbort) abort();
R1: free(d);
}
";
and the template:
template =
"
void primes P((int ));
:Begin:
:Function: primes
:Pattern: primes[n_Integer]
:Arguments: { n }
:ArgumentTypes: { Integer }
:ReturnType: Manual
:End:
";
Here is the code to create the program (taken from the previous answer, slightly modified):
Needs["CCompilerDriver`"];
fullCCode = makeMLinkCodeF[code];
projectDir = "C:\\Temp\\MLProject1";
If[! FileExistsQ[projectDir], CreateDirectory[projectDir]]
pname = "primes";
files = MapThread[
Export[FileNameJoin[{projectDir, pname <> #2}], #1,
"String"] &, {{fullCCode, template}, {".c", ".tm"}}];
Now, here we create it:
In[461]:= exe=CreateExecutable[files,pname];
Install[exe]
Out[462]= LinkObject["C:\Users\Archie\AppData\Roaming\Mathematica\SystemFiles\LibraryResources\
Windows-x86-64\primes.exe",161,10]
and use it:
In[464]:= primes[20]
Out[464]= {2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19}
In[465]:= primes[10000000]
Out[465]= $Aborted
In the latter case, I used Alt+"." to abort the computation. Note that this won't work correctly if you do not include a call to yield.
The general ideology is that you have to check for MLAbort and call MLCallYieldFunction for every expensive computation, such as large loops etc. Perhaps, doing that for inner loops like I did above is an overkill though. One thing you could try doing is to factor the boilerplate code away by using the C preprocessor (macros).
Without ever having tried it, it looks like the Expression Packet functionality might work in this way - if your C code goes back and asks mathematica for some more work to do periodically, then hopefully aborting execution on the mathematica side will tell the C code that there is no more work to do.
If you are using LibraryLink to link external C code to the Mathematica kernel, you can use the Library callback function AbortQ to check if an abort is in progress.

C : How do you simulate an 'exception'?

I come from a C# background, but I'm learning C at the moment. In C#, when one wants to signal that an error has occurred, you throw an exception. But what do you do in C?
Say for example you have a stack with push and pop functions. What is the best way to signal that the stack is empty during a pop ? What do you return from that function?
double pop(void)
{
if(sp > 0)
return val[--sp];
else {
printf("error: stack empty\n");
return 0.0;
}
}
K&R's example from page 77 (code above) returns a 0.0. But what if the user pushed a 0.0 earlier on the stack, how do you know whether the stack is empty or whether a correct value was returned?
Exception-like behavior in C is accomplished via setjmp/longjmp. However, what you really want here is an error code. If all values are potentially returnable, then you may want to take in an out-parameter as a pointer, and use that to return the value, like so:
int pop(double* outval)
{
if(outval == 0) return -1;
if(sp > 0)
*outval = val[--sp];
else {
printf("error: stack empty\n");
return -1;
}
return 0;
}
Not ideal, obviously, but such are the limitations of C.
Also, if you go this road, you may want to define symbolic constants for your error codes (or use some of the standard ones), so that a user can distinguish between "stack empty" and "you gave me a null pointer, dumbass".
You could build an exception system on top of longjmp/setjmp: Exceptions in C with Longjmp and Setjmp. It actually works quite well, and the article is a good read as well. Here's how your code could look like if you used the exception system from the linked article:
TRY {
...
THROW(MY_EXCEPTION);
/* Unreachable */
} CATCH(MY_EXCEPTION) {
...
} CATCH(OTHER_EXCEPTION) {
...
} FINALLY {
...
}
It's amazing what you can do with a little macros, right? It's equally amazing how hard it is to figure out what the heck is going on if you don't already know what the macros do.
longjmp/setjmp are portable: C89, C99, and POSIX.1-2001 specify setjmp().
Note, however, that exceptions implemented in this way will still have some limitations compared to "real" exceptions in C# or C++. A major problem is that only your code will be compatible with this exception system. As there is no established standard for exceptions in C, system and third party libraries just won't interoperate optimally with your homegrown exception system. Still, this can sometimes turn out to be a useful hack.
I don't recommend using this in serious code which programmers other than yourself are supposed to work with. It's just too easy to shoot yourself in the foot with this if you don't know exactly what is going on. Threading, resource management, and signal handling are problem areas which non-toy programs will encounter if you attempt to use longjmp "exceptions".
You have a few options:
1) Magic error value. Not always good enough, for the reason you describe. I guess in theory for this case you could return a NaN, but I don't recommend it.
2) Define that it is not valid to pop when the stack is empty. Then your code either just assumes it's non-empty (and goes undefined if it is), or asserts.
3) Change the signature of the function so that you can indicate success or failure:
int pop(double *dptr)
{
if(sp > 0) {
*dptr = val[--sp];
return 0;
} else {
return 1;
}
}
Document it as "If successful, returns 0 and writes the value to the location pointed to by dptr. On failure, returns a non-zero value."
Optionally, you could use the return value or errno to indicate the reason for failure, although for this particular example there is only one reason.
4) Pass an "exception" object into every function by pointer, and write a value to it on failure. Caller then checks it or not according to how they use the return value. This is a lot like using "errno", but without it being a thread-wide value.
5) As others have said, implement exceptions with setjmp/longjmp. It's doable, but requires either passing an extra parameter everywhere (the target of the longjmp to perform on failure), or else hiding it in globals. It also makes typical C-style resource handling a nightmare, because you can't call anything that might jump out past your stack level if you're holding a resource which you're responsible for freeing.
One approach is to specify that pop() has undefined behaviour if the stack is empty. You then have to provide an is_empty() function that can be called to check the stack.
Another approach is to use C++, which does have exceptions :-)
This actually is a perfect example of the evils of trying to overload the return type with magic values and just plain questionable interface design.
One solution I might use to eliminate the ambiguity (and thus the need for "exception like behaviour") in the example is to define a proper return type:
struct stack{
double* pData;
uint32 size;
};
struct popRC{
double value;
uint32 size_before_pop;
};
popRC pop(struct stack* pS){
popRC rc;
rc.size=pS->size;
if(rc.size){
--pS->size;
rc.value=pS->pData[pS->size];
}
return rc;
}
Usage of course is:
popRC rc = pop(&stack);
if(rc.size_before_pop!=0){
....use rc.value
This happens ALL the time, but in C++ to avoid such ambiguities one usually just returns a
std::pair<something,bool>
where the bool is a success indicator - look at some of:
std::set<...>::insert
std::map<...>::insert
Alternatively add a double* to the interface and return a(n UNOVERLOADED!) return code, say an enum indicating success.
Of course one did not have to return the size in struct popRC. It could have been
enum{FAIL,SUCCESS};
But since size might serve as a useful hint to the pop'er you might as well use it.
BTW, I heartily agree that the struct stack interface should have
int empty(struct stack* pS){
return (pS->size == 0) ? 1 : 0;
}
In cases such as this, you usually do one of
Leave it to the caller. e.g. it's up to the caller to know if it's safe to pop()(e.g. call a stack->is_empty() function before popping the stack), and if the caller messes up, it's his fault and good luck.
Signal the error via an out parameter, or return value.
e.g. you either do
double pop(int *error)
{
if(sp > 0) {
return val[--sp];
*error = 0;
} else {
*error = 1;
printf("error: stack empty\n");
return 0.0;
}
}
or
int pop(double *d)
{
if(sp > 0) {
*d = val[--sp];
return 0;
} else {
return 1;
}
}
There is no equivalent to exceptions in straight C. You have to design your function signature to return error information, if that's what you want.
The mechanisms available in C are:
Non-local gotos with setjmp/longjmp
Signals
However, none of these has semantics remotely resembling C# (or C++) exceptions.
1) You return a flag value to show it failed, or you use a TryGet syntax where the return is a boolean for success while the value is passed through an output parameter.
2) If this is under Windows, there is an OS-level, pure C form of exceptions, called Structed Exception Handling, using syntax like "_try". I mention it, but I do not recommend it for this case.
setjmp, longjmp, and macros. It's been done any number of times—the oldest implementation I know of is by Eric Roberts and Mark vanderVoorde—but the one I use currently is part of Dave Hanson's C Interfaces and Implementations and is free from Princeton.
you can return a pointer to double:
non-NULL -> valid
NULL -> invalid
There are already some good answers here, just wanted to mention that something close to "exception", can be done with the use of a macro, as been done in the awesome MinUnit (this only returns the "exception" to the caller function).
Something that nobody has mentioned yet, it's pretty ugly though:
int ok=0;
do
{
/* Do stuff here */
/* If there is an error */
break;
/* If we got to the end without an error */
ok=1;
} while(0);
if (ok == 0)
{
printf("Fail.\n");
}
else
{
printf("Ok.\n");
}

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