Part 3 · Lesson 14 · Advanced

The Process Address Space

See where code, data, heap, and stack live.

In this interactive Linux lesson from Stencel Academy you don't just read — you type real commands like malloc, call, return and watch the machine respond on a live, animated map. It is part of the free How Linux Works course.

Key takeaway: A process's memory has fixed code/data, a heap that grows up, and a stack that grows down.

Before this lesson

Builds on: Virtual Memory.

What you'll practise

cat /proc/self/maps — See the [heap] and [stack] segments for real.
pmap 4821 — Sum up every memory segment.
ulimit -s — The stack's size limit (KB).

Terms you'll learn

text segmentdata segmentheapstackmalloc / brk

Check your understanding

Which way does the stack grow?

Downward, toward lower addresses
Upward, the same way as the heap
It never moves

Open the interactive lesson →