Is it possible to delete or insert frames into the C# call stack?

Question

Using StackTrace I can get the stack frames. My question is whether it is possible to manipulate the call stack in C#? More specifically: Is it possible...

• to insert a frame into the call stack? or

• to delete a frame from it?

Answer 1

Stack is a very internal component of program's runtime. Having the ability to alter it would make it possible to:

• Make almost unrestricted goto's. Something that is considered a very bad programming practice and is not possible even in PHP. Debugging such thing would be a complete mess.
• Inject code on method returns. This may be useful, but is already covered by aspect oriented tools, like PostSharp or Spring.NET, which allow you to do this in clean and predictable way. And they cover much more cases than just method returns.

Thus, I do not think there is any programming language that allows you to manipulate stack explicitly. It would make things very messy and any benefits it may produce are already covered by Aspect-Oriented-Programming. I bet AOP will make you able to achieve what you want.

Answer 2

It is easy to manipulate the stack in Smalltalk, but I don't think it is possible in C#.