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Language Fundamentals
1. How many number of non-public class definitions can a source file have
A source file can contain unlimited number of non-public class definitions
2. List primitive data types, there size and there range (min, max)
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Data Type
Bytes
bits
min
max

boolean
-
1
-
-

char
2
16
0
2^16-1

byte
1
8
-2^7
2^7-1

short
2
16
-2^15
2^15-1

int
4
32
-2^31
2^31-1
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3. What types of values does boolean variables take

It only takes values true and false

4.Which primitive datatypes are signed

All except char and Boolean

5. Is char type signed or unsigned

char type is integral but unsigned. It range is 0 to 2^7-1

6. What forms an integral literal can be

decimal, octal and hexadecimal, hence example it can be 28, 034 and 0x1c respectively

7. What is the default value of boolean

False

8.Why is the main method static

So that it can be invoked without creating an instance of that class

9. What is the difference between class variable, member variable and

automatic(local) variable
class variable is a static variable and does not belong to instance of class but rather
shared across all the instances
member variable belongs to a particular instance of class and can be called from any
method of the class
automatic or local variable is created on entry to a method and has only method scope

10.When are static and non static variables of the class initialized
The static variables are initialized when the class is loadedNon static variables are
initialized just before the constructor is called

11. When are automatic variable initialized

Automatic variable have to be initialized explicitly

12. How is an argument passed in java, by copy or by reference

If the variable is primitive datatype then it is passed by copy.
If the variable is an object then it is passed by reference

13.What is garbage collection

The runtime system keeps track of the memory that is allocated and is able to
determine whether that memory is still useable. This work is usually done in background
by a low-priority thread that is referred to as garbage collector. When the gc finds
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memory that is no longer accessible from any live thread it takes steps to release it back
to the heap for reuse

14. Does System.gc and Runtime.gc() guarantee garbage collection

No

Operators and assignment

15. What are different types of operators in java
Uniary ++, --, +, -, |, ~, ()
Arithmetic *, /, %,+, -
Shift <<, >>, >>>
Comparison =, instanceof, = =,!=Bitwise &, ^, |Short Circuit &&, ||Ternary ?:Assignment
=

16. How does bitwise (~) operator work

It converts all the 1 bits in a binary value to 0s and all the 0 bits to 1s, e.g 11110000
coverts to 00001111

17. What is a modulo operator %

This operator gives the value which is related to the remainder of a divisione.g x=7%4
gives remainder 3 as an answer

18. Can shift operators be applied to float types.

No, shift operators can be applied only to integer or long types

19.What happens to the bits that fall off after shifting

They are discarded

20.What values of the bits are shifted in after the shift

In case of signed left shift >> the new bits are set to zero

But in case of signed right shift it takes the value of most significant bit before the shift,
that is if the most significant bit before shift is 0 it will introduce 0, else if it is 1, it will
introduce 1
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Modifiers
21. What are access modifiers
These public, protected and private, these can be applied to class, variables,
constructors and methods. But if you don’t specify an access modifier then it is
considered as Friendly

22. Can protected or friendly features be accessed from different packages

No when features are friendly or protected they can be accessed from all the classes in
that package but not from classes in another package

23. How can you access protected features from another package
You can access protected features from other classes by subclassing the that class in
another package, but this cannot be done for friendly features

24.What are the rules for overriding

Private method can be overridden by private, friendly, protected or public methods
Friendly method can be overridden by friendly, protected or public methods
Protected method can be overridden by protected or public methods
Public method can be overridden by public method

25.Explain modifier final

Final can be applied to classes, methods and variables and the features cannot be
changed. Final class cannot be subclassed, methods cannot be overridden

26.Can you change the reference of the final object

No the reference cannot be change, but the data in that object can be changed

27.Can abstract modifier be applied to a variable

No it is applied only to class and methods

28.Can abstract class be instantiated

No abstract class cannot be instantiated i.e you cannot create a new object of this class

29.When does the compiler insist that the class must be abstract
If one or more methods of the class are abstract.
If class inherits one or more abstract methods from the parent abstract class and no
implementation is provided for that method
If class implements an interface and provides no implementation for those methods
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30.How is abstract class different from final class

Abstract class must be subclassed and final class cannot be subclassed

31. Where can static modifiers be used

They can be applied to variables, methods and even a block of code, static methods
and variables are not associated with any instance of class

32. When are the static variables loaded into the memory
During the class load time

33. When are the non static variables loaded into the memory
They are loaded just before the constructor is called

34. How can you reference static variables

Via reference to any instance of the class
Computer comp = new Computer ();
comp.harddisk where hardisk is a static variable
comp.compute() where compute is a method

Via the class name

Computer.harddisk
Computer.compute()

35.Can static method use non static features of there class

No they are not allowed to use non static features of the class, they can only call static
methods and can use static data

36.What is static initializer code

A class can have a block of initializer code that is simply surrounded by curly braces
and labeled as static e.g.
public class Demo{
static int =10;
static{
System.out.println(“Hello world’);
}
}
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And this code is executed exactly once at the time of class load

37.Where is native modifier used

It can refer only to methods and it indicates that the body of the method is to be found
else where and it is usually written in non java language

38.What are transient variables

A transient variable is not stored as part of objects persistent state and they cannot be
final or static

39.What is synchronized modifier used for

It is used to control access of critical code in multithreaded programs

40.What are volatile variables

It indicates that these variables can be modified asynchronously

Conversion Casting and Promotion

41. What are wrapped classes
Wrapped classes are classes that allow primitive types to be accessed as objects.

42. What are the four general cases for Conversion and Casting
Conversion of primitives
Casting of primitives
Conversion of object references
Casting of object references

43. When can conversion happen

It can happen during
Assignment
Method call
Arithmetic promotion
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44.What are the rules for primitive assignment and method call conversion

A boolean can not be converted to any other type

A non Boolean can be converted to another non boolean type, if the conversion is
widening conversion
A non Boolean cannot be converted to another non boolean type, if the conversion is
narrowing conversion
See figure below for simplicity

45.What are the rules for primitive arithmetic promotion conversion

For Unary operators :
If operant is byte, short or a char it is converted to an int
If it is any other type it is not converted

For binary operands :

If one of the operands is double, the other operand is converted to double

Else If one of the operands is float, the other operand is converted to float
Else If one of the operands is long, the other operand is converted to long
Else both the operands are converted to int

46.What are the rules for casting primitive types

You can cast any non Boolean type to any other non boolean type
You cannot cast a boolean to any other type; you cannot cast any other type to a
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boolean

47.What are the rules for object reference assignment and method call
conversion
An interface type can only be converted to an interface type or to object. If the new type
is an interface, it must be a superinterface of the old type
A class type can be converted to a class type or to an interface type. If converting to a
class type the new type should be superclass of the old type. If converting to an
interface type new type the old class must implement the interface
An array maybe converted to class object, to the interface cloneable, or to an array.
Only an array of object references types may be converted to an array, and the old
element type must be convertible to the new element

48.What are the rules for Object reference casting

Casting from Old types to Newtypes
Compile time rules

When both Oldtypes and Newtypes are classes, one should be subclass of the other

When both Oldtype ad Newtype are arrays, both arrays must contain reference types
(not primitive), and it must be legal to cast an element of Oldtype to an element of
Newtype

You can always cast between an interface and a non-final object

Runtime rules

If Newtype is a class. The class of the expression being converted must be Newtype or
must inherit from Newtype

If NewType is an interface, the class of the expression being converted must implement
Newtype

Flow Control and exception

49.What is the difference between while and do while loop

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Do while loop walways executes the body of the loop at least once, since the test is
performed at the end of the body

50.When do you use continue and when do you use break statements
When continue statement is applied it prematurely completes the iteration of a loop.
When break statement is applied it causes the entire loop to be abandoned.

51.What is the base class from which all exceptions are subclasses
All exceptions are subclasses of a class called java.lang.Throwable

52.How do you intercept and thereby control exceptions

We can do this by using try/catch/finally blocks
You place the normal processing code in try block
You put the code to deal with exceptions that might arise in try block in catch block
Code that must be executed no matter what happens must be place in finally block

53.When do we say an exception is handled

When an exception is thrown in a try block and is caught by a matching catch block, the
exception is considered to have been handled

54. When do we say an exception is not handled

There is no catch block that names either the class of exception that has been thrown or
a class of exception that is a parent class of the one that has been thrown, then the
exception is considered to be unhandled, in such condition the execution leaves the
method directly as if no try has been executed

55.In what sequence does the finally block gets executed

If you put finally after a try block without a matching catch block then it will be executed
after the try block
If it is placed after the catch block and there is no exception then also it will be executed
after the try block
If there is an exception and it is handled by the catch block then it will be executed after
the catch block

56.What can prevent the execution of the code in finally block

The death of thread

Use of system.exit()
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Turning off the power to CPU

An exception arising in the finally block itself

57. What are the rules for catching multiple exceptions
A more specific catch block must precede a more general one in the source, else it
gives compilation error
Only one catch block, that is first applicable one, will be executed

58.What does throws statement declaration in a method indicate

This indicates that the method throws some exception and the caller method should
take care of handling it

59.What are checked exception

Checked exceptions are exceptions that arise in a correct program, typically due to user
mistakes like entering wrong data or I/O problems

60.What are runtime exceptions

Runtime exceptions are due to programming bugs like out of bond arrays or null pointer
exceptions.

61.What is difference between Exception and errors

Errors are usually compile time and exceptions can be runtime or checked

62.How will you handle the checked exceptions

You can provide a try/catch block to handle it. OR
Make sure method declaration includes a throws clause that informs the calling method
an exception might be thrown from this particular method
When you extend a class and override a method, can this new method throw exceptions
other than those that were declared by the original method
No it cannot throw, except for the subclasses of those exceptions

63. Is it legal for the extending class which overrides a method which throws an
exception, not o throw in the overridden class
Yes it is perfectly legal

64.Explain the user defined Exceptions?

User defined Exceptions are the separate Exception classes defined by the user for
specific purposed. An user defined can created by simply sub-classing it to the
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Exception class. This allows custom exceptions to be generated (using throw) and
caught in the same way as normal exceptions.
Example:
class myCustomException extends Exception {
// The class simply has to exist to be an exception
}

Objects and Classes

65.What's the difference between constructors and other methods
Constructors must have the same name as the class and can not return a value. They
are only called once while regular methods could be called many times.

66. What is the difference between Overloading and Overriding

Overloading : Reusing the same method name with different arguments and perhaps a
different return type is called as overloading
Overriding : Using the same method name with identical arguments and return type is
know as overriding

67.What do you understand by late binding or virtual method Invocation.

(Example of runtime polymorphism)
When a compiler for a non object oriented language comes across a method invocation,
it determines exactly what target code should be called and build machine language to
represent that call. In an object oriented language, this is not possible since the proper
code to invoke is determined based upon the class if the object being used to make the
call, not the type of the variable. Instead code is generated that will allow the decision to
be made at run time. This delayed decision making is called as late binding

68.Can overriding methods have different return types

No they cannot have different return types

69.If the method to be overridden has access type protected, can subclass have
the access type as private
No, it must have access type as protected or public, since an overriding method must
not be less accessible than the method it overrides

70.Can constructors be overloaded

Yes constructors can be overloaded
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71.What happens when a constructor of the subclass is called

A constructor delays running its body until the parent parts of the class have been
initialized. This commonly happens because of an implicit call to super() added by the
compiler. You can provide your own call to super(arguments..) to control the way the
parent parts are initialized. If you do this, it must be the first statement of the
constructor.

72.If you use super() or this() in a constructor where should it appear in the
constructor
It should always be the first statement in the constructor

73.What is an inner class

An inner class is same as any other class, but is declared inside some other class

74.How will you reference the inner class

To reference it you will have to use OuterClass$InnerClass

75.Can objects that are instances of inner class access the members of the outer
class
Yes they can access the members of the outer class

76.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

77.Can inner classes be static

Yes inner classes can be static, but they cannot access the non static data of the outer
classes, though they can access the static data

78.Can an inner class be defined inside a method

Yes it can be defined inside a method and it can access data of the enclosing methods
or a formal parameter if it is final

79.What is an anonymous class

Some classes defined inside a method do not need a name, such classes are called
anonymous classes

80.What are the rules of anonymous class

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The class is instantiated and declared in the same place

The declaration and instantiation takes the form
new Xxxx () {// body}
Where Xxxx is an interface name.
An anonymous class cannot have a constructor. Since you do not specify a name for
the class, you cannot use that name to specify a constructor

Threads
Where does java thread support reside
It resides in three places
The java.lang.Thread class (Most of the support resides here)
The java.lang.Object class
The java language and virtual machine

What is the difference between Thread and a Process

Threads run inside process and they share data.
One process can have multiple threads, if the process is killed all the threads inside it
are killed, they dont share data

What happens when you call the start() method of the thread
This registers the thread with a piece of system code called thread scheduler
The schedulers determines which thread is actually running

Does calling start () method of the thread causes it to run

No it merely makes it eligible to run. The thread still has to wait for the CPU time along
with the other threads, then at some time in future, the scheduler will permit the thread
to run

When the thread gets to execute, what does it execute

The thread executes a method call run(). It can execute run() method of either of the
two choices given below :
The thread can execute it own run() method.
The thread can execute the run() method of some other objects
For the first case you need to subclass the Thread class and give your subclass a run()
method
For the second method you need to have a class implement the interface runnable.
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Define your run method. Pass this object as an argument to the Thread constructor

How many methods are declared in the interface runnable

The runnable method declares only one method :
public void run();

Which way would you prefer to implement threading , by extending Thread class
or implementing Runnable interface
The preferred way will be to use Interface Runnable, because by subclassing the
Thread class you have single inheritance i.e you wont be able to extend any other class

What happens when the run() method returns

When the run() method returns, the thread has finished its task and is considered dead.
You can’t restart a dead thread. You can call the methods of dead thread

What are the different states of the thread

They are as follows:
Running: The state that all thread aspire to be
Various waiting states : Waiting, Sleeping, Suspended and Bloacked
Ready : Waiting only for the CPU
Dead : All done

What is Thread priority

Every thread has a priority, the higher priorit thread gets preference over the lower
priority thread by the thread scheduler

What is the range of priority integer

It is from 1 to 10. 10 beings the highest priority and 1 being the lowest

What is the default priority of the thread

The default priority is 5

What happens when you call Thread.yield()

It caused the currently executing thread to move to the ready state if the scheduler is
willing to run any other thread in place of the yielding thread.
Yield is a static method of class Thread
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What is the advantage of yielding

It allows a time consuming thread to permit other threads to execute

What happens when you call Thread.sleep()

It passes time without doing anything and without using the CPU. A call to sleep method
requests the currently executing thread to cease executing for a specified amount of
time.

Does the thread method start executing as soon as the sleep time is over
No, after the specified time is over the thread enters into ready state and will only
execute when the scheduler allows it to do so.

What do you mean by thread blocking

If a method needs to wait an indeterminable amount of time until some I/O occurrence
takes place, then a thread executing that method should graciously step out of the
Running state. All java I/O methods behave this way. A thread that has graciously
stepped out in this way is said to be blocked

What threading related methods are there in object class

wait(), notify() and notifyAll() are all part of Object class and they have to be called from
synchronized code only

What is preemptive scheduling

In preemptive scheduling there are only two ways for the thread to leave the running
state without ecplicitly calling wait() or suspended()
It can cease t be ready to execute ()by calling a blocking I/O method)
It can get moved out by CPU by a higher priorit thread that becomes ready to execute

What is non-preemptive or Time sliced or round robin scheduling

With time slicing the thread is allowd to execute for a limited amount of time. It is then
moved to ready state, where it must contend with all the other ready threads.

What are the two ways of synchronizing the code

Synchronizing an entire method by putting the synchronized modifier in the methods
declaration. To execute the method, a thread must acquire the lock of the object that
owns the method

Synchronize a subset of a method by surrounding the desired lines of code with curly
brackets and inserting the synchronized expression before the opening curly. This
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allows you to synchronize the block on the lock of any object at all, not necessarily the
object that owns the code

What happens when the wait() method is called

The calling thread gives up CPU
The calling thread gives up the lock
The calling thread goes into the monitor’s waiting pool

What happens when the notify() method is called

One thread gets moved out of monitors waiting pool and into the ready state
The thread that was notified ust reacquire the monitors locl before it can proceed

Using notify () method how you can specify which thread should be notified
You cannot specify which thread is to be notified, hence it is always better to call
notifyAll() method

java.lang & java.util Packages

What is the ultimate ancestor of all java classes

Object class is the ancestor of all the java classes

What are important methods of Object class

wait(), notify(), notifyAll(), equals(), toString().

What is the difference between “= =” and “equals()”

“= =” does shallow comparison, It retuns true if the two object points to the same
address in the memory, i.e if the same the same reference
“equals()” does deep comparison, it checks if the values of the data in the object are
same

What would you use to compare two String variables - the operator == or the
method equals()?
I'd use the method equals() to compare the values of the Strings and the == to check if
two variables point at the same instance of a String object

Give example of a final class

Math class is final class and hence cannot be extended
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What is the difference between String and StringBuffer

String is an immutable class, i.e you cannot change the values of that class
Example :
String str = “java”; // address in memory say 12345
And now if you assign a new value to the variable str then
str = “core java”; then the value of the variable at address 12345 will not change but a
new memory is allocated for this variable say 54321
So in the memory address 12345 will have value “java”
And the memory address 54321 will have value “core java” and the variable str will now
be pointing to address 54321 in memory

StringBuffer can be modified dynamically

Example:
StringBuffer strt =”java” // address in memory is say 12345
And now if you assign a new value to the variable str then
Str = “core java”; then value in the address of memory will get replaced, a new memory
address is not allocated in this case.

What will be the result if you compare StringBuffer with String if both have same
values
It will return false as you cannot compare String with StringBuffer

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.

What are different types of collections

A collection has no special order and does not reject duplicates
A list is ordered and does not reject duplicates
A set has no special order but rejects duplicates
A map supports searching on a key field, values of which must be unique

Tell me something about Arrays

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Arrays are fast to access, but are inefficient if the number of elements grow and if you
have to insert or delete an element

Difference between ArrayList and Vector

Vector methods are synchronized while ArrayList methods are not

Iterator a Class or Interface? What is its use?

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

Difference between Hashtable and HashMap

Hashtable does not store null value, while HashMap does
Hashtable is synchronized, while HashMap is not

Java Interview Questions & Answers

Part 3 - Main method and Java File Structure

Should a main method be compulsorily declared in all java classes?

No not required. main method should be defined only if the source class is a java
application.

What is the return type of the main method?

Main method doesn't return anything hence declared void.

Why is the main method declared static?

main method is the entry point for a Java application and main method is called by the
JVM even before the instantiation of the class hence it is declared as static. static
methods can be called even before the creation of objects.

What is the argument of main method?

main method accepts an array of String objects as argument.

How to pass an argument to main method?

You should pass the argument as a command line argument. Command line arguments
are seprated by a space. The following is an example:

java Hello Tom Jerry

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In the above command line Hello is the class, Tom is the first argument and Jerry is the
second argument.

What will happen if no argument is passed to the main method?

If you dont access the argument, the main method will execute without any problem. If
try to access the argument, NullPointerException will be thrown.

Can a main method be overloaded?

Yes. You can have any number of main methods with different method signature and
implementation in the class.

Can a main method be declared final?

Yes. Any inheriting class will not be able to have it's own default main method.

Does the order of public and static declaration matter in main method?
No it doesn't matter but void should always come before main().

Can a source file contain more than one Class declaration?

Yes. A single source file can contain any number of Class declarations but only one of
the class can be declared as public.

If a source file has 2 class declaration in it, on compilation how many class files
will be created?
2 class files will be generated by the compiler.

Can the first line of the source code be a comment?

Yes. Comments can appear anywhere in the code. It is just a "skip this line" instruction
to the conpiler.

Can the source file name and the class name in the file be different?
If the class in the source is not of public access, then the name can be anything but
should confirm to identifier rules.
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Will the below statement result in compilation error or runtime error?

System.out.println("Hi");;;

The statement will compile and execute without any problem. Semicolon is just a
statement terminator.