Hi, can anyone tell me why i never see anything in the call stack window (watches), i expect to see the function calls as i debug and step into functions but nothing is shown. can anyone help?
each function call will produce a normal stack frame that the debugger can walk backwards in.
That's true only as long as the function performs no PUSHes and POPs while running. Those can make it quite a task to find the return address among all that other stuff on the stack.
Which is also a reason why most processors (with support for a "real" stack) has a link or base-pointer register to allow constant access to its auto variables and to its parameters. The situation is definitely bleak for processors that only has a return stack and have to simulate a parameter stack. Then it is up to the compiler to decide if it will simulate such a register - at least for debug builds.