Python: Stacktrace vs Traceback

Traceback is the idiomatic Python term (for example, the traceback module), it's often used interchangeably with stacktrace, which is used in other languages such as Java.

The Stacktrace is the trace of the methods call stack, exactly as it is in the memory of the computer that is executing your program. So most recents method calls are at the top; and likely the root of the problem is at the top as well. Virtually all programming languages do it this way.

The Traceback is something Python has "invented": it's the reversed of the above. So, to find the root of your problem, you need to start reading it from the bottom, as this is apparently easier to read to pythonists. To make it clear, they have had to specify "most recent call last".

Calling "stacktrace" a "traceback" is simply wrong: a traceback is not a trace of a stack. It's a stacktrace reversed: and the "back" probably means so.

At the top of a stack, in every meaning, you have the most recent item.