Browser Javascript Stack size limit

Javascript Problem Overview

I am getting some client-side Javascript stack overflow issues specifically in IE browser, this is happening inside a third party library that makes some function calls and for some reason they occasionally brake in IE only due to it's low stack limit.

I then coded a small test HTML to test the stack size limit for some browsers and found that IE8 has actually a small stack limit if compared to FF 7 or Chrome 14 running on a Laptop with Windows 7 OS, 8Gb RAM:

<html>
<body>

<!-- begin Script: -->
<script type="text/javascript">

function doSomething(){

  var i = 3200;
  doSomethingElse(i);

}

function doSomethingElse(i){
  if (i == 0) return -1;
  doSomethingElse(i-1);
}

doSomething(); 

</script>
<!-- END OF PAGE -->

</body>
</html>

IE raises stack overflow when the values are around 3200, Firefox and Chrome can handle a very deep recursion if compared to IE.

I would like to know if there's a way to tie the stack-overflow exception with the Javascript function that raised it during runtime in IE or any other browser and if it could give the stacktrace with the chain of function in the stack at the moment the error was raised.

Javascript Solutions

Solution 1 - Javascript

Using a simple test:

var i = 0;
function inc() {
  i++;
  inc();
}
    
try {
  inc();
}
catch(e) {
  // The StackOverflow sandbox adds one frame that is not being counted by this code
  // Incrementing once manually
  i++;
  console.log('Maximum stack size is', i, 'in your current browser');
}

Internet Explorer

IE6: 1130
IE7: 2553
IE8: 1475
IE9: 20678
IE10: 20677

Mozilla Firefox

3.6: 3000
4.0: 9015
5.0: 9015
6.0: 9015
7.0: 65533
8b3: 63485
17: 50762
18: 52596
19: 52458
42: 281810
89: 10746
91: 26441

Google Chrome

14: 26177
15: 26168
16: 26166
25: 25090
47: 20878
51: 41753
93: 13903

Safari

4: 52426
5: 65534
9: 63444
14: 45606

Safari iOS

15: 7909

Opera

10.10: 9999
10.62: 32631
11: 32631
12: 32631
78: 13908

Edge

87: 13970
93: 13903

Yandex

21: 13909

In regard to your question, use your browser's developer tools to see the stack. In IE 8+, hit F12, go to the Script tab, and click Start Debugging. It will break when an exception is thrown, and you can see the call stack. You can also use Chrome's developer tools, Ctrl+Shift+J.

Solution 2 - Javascript

This is browser specific, not only the stack size, but also optimizations, things like tail recursion optimization and stuff. I guess the only reliable thing here is to code in a way that doesn't put tons of stuff into the stack, or manually testing(reading deep into the documentation of) each browser. After all, when you see the "too much recursion" error or similar you already know there's something really wrong with your code.

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	guilhebl	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Javascript	josh3736	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Javascript	Nikoloff	View Answer on Stackoverflow