Core Java Interview Questions and Answers

Core Java Interview Questions-->1

1) What is the difference between an Abstract class and  Interface?

1. Abstract classes may have some executable methods and methods left

unimplemented. Interfaces contain no implementation code.

2. An class can implement any number of interfaces, but subclass at most one abstract class.

3. An abstract class can have nonabstract methods. All methods of an interface are abstract.

4. An abstract class can have instance variables. An interface cannot.

5. An abstract class can define constructor. An interface cannot.

6. An abstract class can have any visibility: public, protected, private or none

(package). An interface's visibility must be public or none (package).

7. An abstract class inherits from Object and includes methods such as clone() and  equals().

2) What are checked and unchecked exceptions?

Java defines two kinds of exceptions :

• Checked exceptions : Exceptions that inherit from the Exception class are

checked exceptions. Client code has to handle the checked exceptions thrown by the API, either in a catch clause or by forwarding it outward with the throws clause.

Examples - SQLException, IOxception.

• Unchecked exceptions : RuntimeException also extends from Exception. However, all of the exceptions that inherit from RuntimeException get special treatment.There is no requirement for the client code to deal with them, and hence they are called unchecked exceptions. Example Unchecked exceptions are NullPointerException, OutOfMemoryError, DivideByZeroException typically,programming errors.

3) What is a user defined exception?

User-defined exceptions may be implemented by

• defining a class to respond to the exception and

• embedding a throw statement in the try block where the exception can occur or

declaring that the method throws the exception (to another method where it is

handled).

The developer can define a new exception by deriving it from the Exception 

class as follows:

public class MyException extends Exception {

/* class definition of constructors (but NOT the exception handling code) goes here public MyException() {

super();

}

public MyException( String errorMessage ) {

super( errorMessage );

}

}

The throw statement is used to signal the occurance of the exception within a try block.

Often, exceptions are instantiated in the same statement in which they are thrown using the

syntax.

throw new MyException("I threw my own exception.")

To handle the exception within the method where it is thrown, a catch statement that

handles MyException, must follow the try block. If the developer does not want to handle

the exception in the method itself, the method must pass the exception using the syntax:

public myMethodName() throws MyException

4) What is the difference between C++ & Java?

Well as Bjarne Stroustrup says "..despite the syntactic similarities, C++ and Java are very

different languages. In many ways, Java seems closer to Smalltalk than to C++..". Here are

few I discovered:

• Java is multithreaded

• Java has no pointers

• Java has automatic memory management (garbage collection)

• Java is platform independent (Stroustrup may differ by saying "Java is a             platform"

• Java has built-in support for comment documentation

• Java has no operator overloading

• Java doesn’t provide multiple inheritance

• There are no destructors in Java

5) What are statements in JAVA ?

Statements are equivalent to sentences in natural languages. A statement forms a complete unit of execution. The following types of expressions can be made into a statement by terminating the expression with a semicolon

• Assignment expressions

• Any use of ++ or --

• Method calls

• Object creation expressions

These kinds of statements are called expression statements. In addition to these kinds of expression statements, there are two other kinds of statements. A declaration statement declares a variable. A control flow statement regulates the order in which statements get executed. The for loop and the if statement are both examples of control flow statements.

6) What is JAR file?

JavaARchive files are a big glob of Java classes, images, audio, etc., compressed to make one simple, smaller file to ease Applet downloading. Normally when a browser encounters an applet, it goes and downloads all the files, images, audio, used by the Applet separately.

This can lead to slower downloads.

7)What is JNI?

JNI is an acronym of Java Native Interface. Using JNI we can call functions which are written in other languages from Java. Following are its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• You want to use your existing library which was previously written in other

language.

• You want to call Windows API function.

• For the sake of execution speed.

• You want to call API function of some server product which is in c or c++ from java client.

Disadvantages:

• You can’t say write once run anywhere.

• Difficult to debug runtime error in native code.

• Potential security risk.

• You can’t call it from Applet.

8) What is serialization?

Quite simply, object serialization provides a program the ability to read or write a whole object to and from a raw byte stream. It allows Java objects and primitives to be encoded into a byte stream suitable for streaming to some type of network or to a file-system, or more generally, to a transmission medium or storage facility. A seralizable object must implement the Serilizable interface. We use ObjectOutputStream to write this object to a stream and ObjectInputStream to read it from the stream.

9) Why there are some null interface in java ? What does it mean ? Give me some null interfaces in JAVA?

Null interfaces act as markers..they just tell the compiler that the objects of this class need to be treated differently..some marker interfaces are : Serializable, Remote, Cloneable

10) Is synchronised a modifier?indentifier? what is it??

It's a modifier. Synchronized methods are methods that are used to control access to an object. A thread only executes a synchronized method after it has acquired the lock for the method's object or class. Synchronized statements are similar to synchronized methods. A synchronized statement can only be executed after a thread has acquired the lock for the object or class referenced in the synchronized statement.

11) What is singleton class?where is it used?

Singleton is a design pattern meant to provide one and only one instance of an object. Other objects can get a reference to this instance through a static method (class constructor is kept private). Why do we need one? Sometimes it is necessary, and often sufficient, to create a single instance of a given class. This has advantages in memory management, and for Java, in garbage collection. Moreover, restricting the number of instances may be necessary or desirable for technological or business reasons--for example, we may only

want a single instance of a pool of database connections.

12) What is a compilation unit?

The smallest unit of source code that can be compiled, i.e. a .java file.

13) Is string a wrapper class?

String is a class, but not a wrapper class. Wrapper classes like (Integer) exist for each primitive type. They can be used to convert a primitive data value into an object, and viceversa. 

14) Why java does not have multiple inheritance?

The Java design team strove to make Java:

• Simple, object oriented, and familiar

• Robust and secure

• Architecture neutral and portable

• High performance

• Interpreted, threaded, and dynamic

The reasons for omitting multiple inheritance from the Java language mostly stem from the  "simple, object oriented, and familiar" goal. As a simple language, Java's creators wanted a language that most developers could grasp without extensive training. To that end, they worked to make the language as similar to C++ as possible (familiar) without carrying over

C++'s unnecessary complexity (simple).

In the designers' opinion, multiple inheritance causes more problems and confusion than it solves. So they cut multiple inheritance from the language (just as they cut operator overloading). The designers' extensive C++ experience taught them that multiple  inheritance just wasn't worth the headache.

15) Why java is not a 100% oops?

Many people say this because Java uses primitive types such as int, char, double. But then all the rest are objects. Confusing question..

16) What is a resource bundle?

In its simplest form, a resource bundle is represented by a text file containing keys and a text value for each key.

17) What is transient variable?

Transient variable can't be serialize. For example if a variable is declared as transient in a Serializable class and the class is written to an ObjectStream, the value of the variable can't be written to the stream instead when the class is retrieved from the ObjectStream the value of the variable becomes null.

18) What is Collection API?

The Collection API is a set of classes and interfaces that support operation on collections of objects. These classes and interfaces are more flexible, more powerful, and more regular than the vectors, arrays, and hashtables if effectively replaces.

Example of classes: HashSet, HashMap, ArrayList, LinkedList, TreeSet and TreeMap.

Example of interfaces: Collection, Set, List and Map.

19) Is Iterator a Class or Interface? What is its use?

Iterator is an interface which is used to step through the elements of a Collection.

20) What is similarities/difference between an Abstract class and Interface?

Differences are as follows:

• Interfaces provide a form of multiple inheritance. A class can extend only one other class.

• Interfaces are limited to public methods and constants with no implementation.

Abstract classes can have a partial implementation, protected parts, static methods, etc.

• A Class may implement several interfaces. But in case of abstract class, a class may extend only one abstract class.

• Interfaces are slow as it requires extra indirection to to find corresponding method in in the actual class. Abstract classes are fast.

Similarities:

• Neither Abstract classes or Interface can be instantiated.

21) What is a transient variable?

A transient variable is a variable that may not be serialized.

22) Which containers use a border Layout as their default layout?

The window, Frame and Dialog classes use a border layout as their default layout.

23) Why do threads block on I/O?

Threads block on i/o (that is enters the waiting state) so that other threads may execute while the i/o Operation is performed.

24) How are Observer and Observable used?

Objects that subclass the Observable class maintain a list of observers. When an Observable object is updated it invokes the update() method of each of its observers to notify the observers that it has changed state. The Observer interface is implemented by objects that observe Observable objects.

25) What is synchronization and why is it important?

With respect to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to shared resources. Without synchronization, it is possible for one thread to modify a shared object while another thread is in the process of using or updating that object's value. This often leads to significant errors.

26) Can a lock be acquired on a class?

Yes, a lock can be acquired on a class. This lock is acquired on the class's Class object..

27) What's new with the stop(), suspend() and resume() methods in JDK 1.2?

The stop(), suspend() and resume() methods have been deprecated in JDK 1.2.

28) Is null a keyword?

The null value is not a keyword.

29) What is the preferred size of a component?

The preferred size of a component is the minimum component size that will allow the component to display normally.

30) What method is used to specify a container's layout?

The setLayout() method is used to specify a container's layout.

31) Which containers use a FlowLayout as their default layout?

The Panel and Applet classes use the FlowLayout as their default layout.

32) What state does a thread enter when it terminates its processing?

When a thread terminates its processing, it enters the dead state.

33) What is the Collections API?

The Collections API is a set of classes and interfaces that support operations on collections of objects.

34) Which characters may be used as the second character of an identifier, but not as the first character of an identifier?

The digits 0 through 9 may not be used as the first character of an identifier but they may be used after the first character of an identifier.

35) What is the List interface?

The List interface provides support for ordered collections of objects.

36) How does Java handle integer overflows and under flows?

It uses those low order bytes of the result that can fit into the size of the type allowed by the operation.

37) What is the Vector class?

The Vector class provides the capability to implement a growable array of objects

38) What modifiers may be used with an inner class that is a member of an outer class?

A (non-local) inner class may be declared as public, protected, private, static, final, or abstract.

39) What is an Iterator interface?

The Iterator interface is used to step through the elements of a Collection.

40) What is the difference between the >> and >>> operators?

The >> operator carries the sign bit when shifting right. The >>> zero-fills bits that have been shifted out.