The x87 had (and still has) a stack. Itanium tried something as well. The problem is that it does not really fit to complied code. The compiler usually has no

The x87 had (and still has) a stack. Itanium tried something as well. The problem is that it does not really fit to complied code. The compiler usually has no clue how deep the stack is when a function is called (esp. with function pointer, virtual methods, etc), so it will not or can not generate optimal code for this. Plus you get the trouble with interrupts. However, modern CPUs understand how the stack is used and actually will maintain and on-chip stack for you. That is, if you are using the standard function prologue and you dont play any tricks with the stack-modifying instructions.