Getting a stack overflow exception when declaring

Question

The following code is generating a stack overflow error for me

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    int sieve[2000000];
    return 0;
}

How do I get around this? I am using Turbo C++ but would like to keep my code in C

EDIT:

Thanks for the advice. The code above was only for example, I actually declare the array in a function and not in sub main. Also, I needed the array to be initialized to zeros, so when I googled malloc, I discovered that calloc was perfect for my purposes.

Malloc/calloc also has the advantage over allocating on the stack of allowing me to declare the size using a variable.

Answer 1

You would be better off allocating it on the heap, not the stack. something like

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    int * sieve;
    sieve = malloc(20000);
    return 0;
}

Answer 2

Use malloc. All check the return type is not null, if it is null then your system simply doesn't have enought memory to fit that many values.

Answer 3

Is there some reason why you can't use alloca() to allocate the space you need on the stack frame based on how big the object really needs to be?

If you do that, and still bust the stack, put it in allocated heap. I highly recommend NOT declaring it as static in main() and putting it in the data segment.

If it really has to be that big and your program can't allocate it on the heap, your program really has no business running on that type of machine to begin with.

What (exactly) are you trying to accomplish?