Java Interview Questions - Copy
Java Interview Questions - Copy
Dear readers, these Java Interview Questions have been designed especially to get you
acquainted with the nature of questions you may encounter during your interview for the subject
of Java Programming Language. As per my experience, good interviewers hardly planned to
ask any particular question during your interview, normally questions start with some basic
concept of the subject and later they continue based on further discussion and what you answer
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Java runs on a variety of platforms, such as Windows, Mac OS, and the various versions of
UNIX/Linux like HP-Unix, Sun Solaris, Redhat Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc.
Some features include Object Oriented, Platform Independent, Robust, Interpreted, Multi-
threaded
It’s compiler generates an architecture-neutral object file format, which makes the compiled
code to be executable on many processors, with the presence of Java runtime system.
It is designed to adapt to an evolving environment. Java programs can carry extensive amount
of run-time information that can be used to verify and resolve accesses to objects on run-time.
What is Java Virtual Machine and how it is considered in context of Java’s
platform independent feature?
When Java is compiled, it is not compiled into platform specific machine, rather into platform
independent byte code. This byte code is distributed over the web and interpreted by virtual
Machine (JVM) on whichever platform it is being run.
Object is a runtime entity and it’s state is stored in fields and behavior is shown via methods.
Methods operate on an object's internal state and serve as the primary mechanism for object-to-
object communication.
Define class?
A class is a blue print from which individual objects are created. A class can contain fields and
methods to describe the behavior of an object.
Variables defined inside methods, constructors or blocks are called local variables. The variable
will be declared and initialized within the method and it will be destroyed when the method has
completed.
Instance variables are variables within a class but outside any method. These variables are
instantiated when the class is loaded.
These are variables declared with in a class, outside any method, with the static keyword.
What is Singleton class?
Singleton class control object creation, limiting the number to one but allowing the flexibility to
create more objects if the situation changes.
Constructor gets invoked when a new object is created. Every class has a constructor. If we do
not explicitly write a constructor for a class the java compiler builds a default constructor for that
class.
Default value of float and double datatype in different as compared to C/C++. For float its 0.0f
and for double it’s 0.0d
This data type is used to save space in large arrays, mainly in place of integers, since a byte is
four times smaller than an int.
Class variables also known as static variables are declared with the static keyword in a class,
but outside a method, constructor or a block.
Java provides access modifiers to set access levels for classes, variables, methods and
constructors. A member has package or default accessibility when no accessibility modifier is
specified.
Variables, methods and constructors which are declared protected in a superclass can be
accessed only by the subclasses in other package or any class within the package of the
protected members' class.
What do you mean by synchronized Non Access Modifier?
Java provides these modifiers for providing functionalities other than Access Modifiers,
synchronized used to indicate that a method can be accessed by only one thread at a time.
Variables used in a switch statement can only be a string, enum, byte, short, int, or char.
This method is used to get the primitive data type of a certain String.
The String class is immutable, so that once it is created a String object cannot be changed.
Since String is immutable it can safely be shared between many threads ,which is considered
very important for multithreaded programming.
The String class is considered as immutable, so that once it is created a String object cannot be
changed. If there is a necessity to make alot of modifications to Strings of characters then
StringBuffer should be used.
Use StringBuilder whenever possible because it is faster than StringBuffer. But, if thread safety
is necessary then use StringBuffer objects.
It is possible to define a method that will be called just before an object's final destruction by the
garbage collector. This method is called finalize( ), and it can be used to ensure that an object
terminates cleanly.
What is an Exception?
An exception is a problem that arises during the execution of a program. Exceptions are caught
by handlers positioned along the thread's method invocation stack.
It is an exception that is typically a user error or a problem that cannot be foreseen by the
programmer. For example, if a file is to be opened, but the file cannot be found, an exception
occurs. These exceptions cannot simply be ignored at the time of compilation.
It is an exception that occurs that probably could have been avoided by the programmer. As
opposed to checked exceptions, runtime exceptions are ignored at the time of compliation.
The Exception class has two main subclasses : IOException class and RuntimeException
Class.
If a method does not handle a checked exception, the method must declare it using the
throwskeyword. The throws keyword appears at the end of a method's signature.
An exception can be thrown, either a newly instantiated one or an exception that you just
caught, by using throw keyword.
The finally keyword is used to create a block of code that follows a try block. A finally block of
code always executes, whether or not an exception has occurred.
What things should be kept in mind while creating your own exceptions in
Java?
While creating your own exception −
You want to write a runtime exception, you need to extend the RuntimeException class.
Define Inheritance?
It is the process where one object acquires the properties of another. With the use of inheritance
the information is made manageable in a hierarchical order.
If the method overrides one of its superclass's methods, overridden method can be invoked
through the use of the keyword super. It can be also used to refer to a hidden field.
What is Polymorphism?
Polymorphism is the ability of an object to take on many forms. The most common use of
polymorphism in OOP occurs when a parent class reference is used to refer to a child class
object.
What is Abstraction?
It refers to the ability to make a class abstract in OOP. It helps to reduce the complexity and also
improves the maintainability of the system.
These classes cannot be instantiated and are either partially implemented or not at all
implemented. This class contains one or more abstract methods which are simply method
declarations without a body.
If you want a class to contain a particular method but you want the actual implementation of that
method to be determined by child classes, you can declare the method in the parent class as
abstract.
What is Encapsulation?
It is the technique of making the fields in a class private and providing access to the fields via
public methods. If a field is declared private, it cannot be accessed by anyone outside the class,
thereby hiding the fields within the class. Therefore encapsulation is also referred to as data
hiding.
The main benefit of encapsulation is the ability to modify our implemented code without
breaking the code of others who use our code. With this Encapsulation gives maintainability,
flexibility and extensibility to our code.
What is an Interface?
It includes −
Packages are used in Java in-order to prevent naming conflicts, to control access, to make
searching/locating and usage of classes, interfaces, enumerations and annotations, etc., easier.
A multithreaded program contains two or more parts that can run concurrently. Each part of
such a program is called a thread, and each thread defines a separate path of execution.
Thread can be created by: implementing Runnable interface, extending the Thread class.
What is an applet?
An applet is a Java program that runs in a Web browser. An applet can be a fully functional Java
application because it has the entire Java API at its disposal.
An applet extend which class?
It uses garbage collection to free the memory. By cleaning those objects that is no longer
reference by any of the program.
It is used with variables or methods and used to call constructer of same class.
It is a collection of element which cannot contain duplicate elements. The Set interface contains
only methods inherited from Collection and adds the restriction that duplicate elements are
prohibited.
Explain TreeSet?
It is used to sort collections and arrays of objects using the collections.sort() and java.utils. The
objects of the class implementing the Comparable interface can be ordered.
It includes:
Throw is used to trigger an exception where as throws is used in declaration of
exception.
Without throws, Checked exception cannot be handled where as checked exception
can be propagated with throws.
Java Runtime Environment is an implementation of the Java Virtual Machine which executes
Java programs. It provides the minimum requirements for executing a Java application;
JAR files is Java Archive fles and it aggregates many files into one. It holds Java classes in a
library. JAR files are built on ZIP file format and have .jar file extension.
This is Web Archive File and used to store XML, java classes, and JavaServer pages. which is
used to distribute a collection of JavaServer Pages, Java Servlets, Java classes, XML files,
static Web pages etc.
Object based programming languages follow all the features of OOPs except Inheritance.
JavaScript is an example of object based programming languages.
The java compiler creates a default constructor only if there is no constructor in the class.
Define composition?
Holding the reference of the other class within some other class is known as composition.
If a class has multiple functions by same name but different parameters, it is known as Method
Overloading.
Method overloading increases the readability of the program. Method overriding provides the
specific implementation of the method that is already provided by its super class parameter
must be different in case of overloading, parameter must be same in case of overriding.
Final classes are created so the methods implemented by that class cannot be overridden. It
can’t be inherited.
What is NullPointerException?
A NullPointerException is thrown when calling the instance method of a null object, accessing or
modifying the field of a null object etc.
What are the ways in which a thread can enter the waiting state?
A thread can enter the waiting state by invoking its sleep() method, by blocking on IO, by
unsuccessfully attempting to acquire an object's lock, or by invoking an object's wait() method. It
can also enter the waiting state by invoking its (deprecated) suspend() method.
The operating system's task scheduler allocates execution time to multiple tasks. By quickly
switching between executing tasks, it creates the impression that tasks execute sequentially.
When a task invokes its yield() method, it returns to the ready state. When a task invokes its
sleep() method, it returns to the waiting state.
The Vector class provides the capability to implement a growable array of objects. Vector proves
to be very useful if you don't know the size of the array in advance, or you just need one that
can change sizes over the lifetime of a program.
How many bits are used to represent Unicode, ASCII, UTF-16, and UTF-
8 characters?
Unicode requires 16 bits and ASCII require 7 bits. Although the ASCII character set uses only 7
bits, it is usually represented as 8 bits. UTF-8 represents characters using 8, 16, and 18 bit
patterns. UTF-16 uses 16-bit and larger bit patterns.
These are classes that allow primitive types to be accessed as objects. Example: Integer,
Character, Double, Boolean etc.
The Frame class extends Window to define a main application window that can have a menu
bar.
javax.Swing package. All components in Swing, except JApplet, JDialog, JFrame and JWindow
are lightweight components.
It is used to create objects that provide access to the files and directories of a local file system.
What is the difference between the Reader/Writer class hierarchy and the
InputStream/OutputStream class hierarchy?
Which class should you use to obtain design information about an object?
The Class class is used to obtain information about an object's design and java.lang.Class class
instance represent classes, interfaces in a running Java application.
A static variable is associated with the class as a whole rather than with specific instances of a
class. Non-static variables take on unique values with each object instance.
Serialization is the process of writing the state of an object to a byte stream. Deserialization is
the process of restoring these objects.
It is part of the analysis of a program and describes a situation that a program might encounter
and what behavior the program should exhibit in that circumstance.
Sub class inherits all the public and protected methods and the implementation. It also inherits
all the default modifier methods and their implementation.
If there is a button instance called b1, you may add menu short cut by calling
b1.setMnemonic('F'), so the user may be able to use Alt+F to click the button.
Can you write a Java class that could be used both as an applet as well
as an application?
Yes, just add a main() method to the applet.
AWT components are heavy-weight, whereas Swing components are lightweight. Heavy weight
components depend on the local windowing toolkit. For example, java.awt.Button is a heavy
weight component, when it is running on the Java platform for Unix platform, it maps to a real
Motif button.
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.
Yes, since inheritance inherits everything from the super class and interface, it may make the
subclass too clustering and sometimes error-prone when dynamic overriding or dynamic
overloading in some situation.
When copying elements between different arrays, if the source or destination arguments are not
arrays or their types are not compatible, an ArrayStoreException will be thrown.
Can you call one constructor from another if a class has multiple
constructors?
The code sleep(2000); puts thread aside for exactly two seconds. The code wait(2000), causes
a wait of up to two second. A thread could stop waiting earlier if it receives the notify() or
notifyAll() call. The method wait() is defined in the class Object and the method sleep() is
defined in the class Thread.
The ArithmeticException is thrown when integer is divided by zero or taking the remainder of a
number by zero. It is never thrown in floating-point operations.
What is synchronization?
Synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to shared resources.
synchronized keyword in java provides locking which ensures mutual exclusive access of
shared resource and prevent data race.
The Collections API is a set of classes and interfaces that support operations on collections of
objects.
Does garbage collection guarantee that a program will not run out of
memory?
Garbage collection does not guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. It is possible
for programs to use up memory resources faster than they are garbage collected. It is also
possible for programs to create objects that are not subject to garbage collection.
Panel is the immediate superclass. A panel provides space in which an application can attach
any other component, including other panels.
A break statement results in the termination of the statement to which it applies (switch, for, do,
or while). A continue statement is used to end the current loop iteration and return control to the
loop statement.
A private variable may only be accessed within the class in which it is declared.
The eight primitive types are byte, char, short, int, long, float, double, and boolean.
When a window is repainted by the AWT painting thread, it sets the clipping regions to the area
of the window that requires repainting.
The garbage collector invokes an object's finalize() method when it detects that the object has
become unreachable.
Yes
A class loader is an object that is responsible for loading classes. The class ClassLoader is an
abstract class.
What is the difference between an Interface and an Abstract class?
An abstract class can have instance methods that implement a default behavior. An Interface
can only declare constants and instance methods, but cannot implement default behavior and
all methods are implicitly abstract. An interface has all public members and no implementation.
What will happen if static modifier is removed from the signature of the
main method?
No, a top level class can not be private or protected. It can have either "public" or no modifier.
We can pass them around as method parameters where a method expects an object. It also
provides utility methods.
It is not necessary that each try block must be followed by a catch block. It should be followed
by either a catch block or a finally block.
A thread is in the ready state as initial state after it has been created and started.
The Locale class is used to tailor program output to the conventions of a particular geographic,
political, or cultural region.
What are synchronized methods and synchronized statements?
Synchronized methods are methods that are used to control access to an object. A
synchronized statement can only be executed after a thread has acquired the lock for the object
or class referenced in the synchronized statement.
Binding refers to the linking of a procedure call to the code to be executed in response to the
call. Dynamic binding means that the code associated with a given procedure call is not known
until the time of the call at run-time.
ArrayList can grow dynamically and provides more powerful insertion and search mechanisms
than arrays.
Deletion in linked list is fast because it involves only updating the next pointer in the node before
the deleted node and updating the previous pointer in the node after the deleted node.
If you need to frequently add and remove elements from the middle of the list and only access
the list elements sequentially, then LinkedList should be used. If you need to support random
access, without inserting or removing elements from any place other than the end, then
ArrayList should be used.
It is a collection returned by the values() method of the Map Interface, It contains all the objects
present as values in the map.
Private constructor is used if you do not want other classes to instantiate the object and to
prevent subclassing.T
Type casting means treating a variable of one type as though it is another type.
Newborn state
Runnable state
Running state
Blocked state
Dead state
The >> operator carries the sign bit when shifting right. The >>> zero-fills bits that have been
shifted out.
Which method of the Component class is used to set the position and
size of a component?
MenuItem class
Import statement is allowed at the beginning of the program file after package statement.
What is currentThread()?
The main thread is created automatically and it begins to execute immediately when a program
starts. It ia thread from which all other child threads originate.
Initialization
Starting
Stopping
Destroying
Painting
Why is the role of init() method under applets?
Define canvas?
It is a simple drawing surface which are used for painting images or to perform other graphical
operations.
It refers to writing programs that execute across multiple devices (computers), in which the
devices are all connected to each other using a network.
What is a Socket?
Sockets provide the communication mechanism between two computers using TCP. A client
program creates a socket on its end of the communication and attempts to connect that socket
to a server.
Sockets are flexible and sufficient. Efficient socket based programming can be easily
implemented for general communications. It cause low network traffic.
Socket based communications allows only to send packets of raw data between applications.
Both the client-side and server-side have to provide mechanisms to make the data useful in any
way.
Which class is used by server applications to obtain a port and listen for
client requests?
java.net.ServerSocket class is used by server applications to obtain a port and listen for client
requests
Which class represents the socket that both the client and server use to
communicate with each other?
java.net.Socket class represents the socket that both the client and server use to communicate
with each other.
Generics provide compile-time type safety that allows programmers to catch invalid types at
compile time. Java Generic methods and generic classes enable programmers to specify, with a
single method declaration, a set of related methods or, with a single class declaration, a set of
related types.
No, there is no need to import this package. It is by default loaded internally by the JVM.
If a class is declared within a class and specify the static modifier, the compiler treats the class
just like any other top-level class. Nested top-level class is an Inner class.
If System.exit (0); is written at the end of the try block, will the finally block
still execute?
No in this case the finally block will not execute because when you say System.exit (0); the
control immediately goes out of the program, and thus finally never executes.
Daemon thread is a low priority thread, which runs intermittently in the back ground doing the
garbage collection operation for the java runtime system.
The size is the number of elements actually stored in the vector, while capacity is the maximum
number of elements it can store at a given instance of time.
Yes a Vector can contain heterogenous objects. Because a Vector stores everything in terms of
Object.
What is an enumeration?
An enumeration is an interface containing methods for accessing the underlying data structure
from which the enumeration is obtained. It allows sequential access to all the elements stored in
the collection.
Path and Classpath are operating system level environment variales. Path is defines where the
system can find the executables(.exe) files and classpath is used to specify the location of
.class files.
A static method should not refer to instance variables without creating an instance and cannot
use "this" operator to refer the instance.
Can an Interface extend another Interface?
Yes an Interface can inherit another Interface, for that matter an Interface can extend more than
one Interface.
Polymorphism
An object's lock is a mechanism that is used by multiple threads to obtain synchronized access
to the object. A thread may execute a synchronized method of an object only after it has
acquired the object's lock.
What is Downcasting?
It is the casting from a general to a more specific type, i.e. casting down the hierarchy.
What are order of precedence and associativity and how are they used?
Order of precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated in expressions.
Associatity determines whether an expression is evaluated left-to-right or right-to-left.
A protected method may only be accessed by classes or interfaces of the same package or by
subclasses of the class in which it is declared.
When a class is defined within a scope of another class, then it becomes inner class. If the
access modifier of the inner class is static, then it becomes nested class.
Overridden methods must have the same name, argument list, and return type. The overriding
method may not limit the access of the method it overrides.
How does a try statement determine which catch clause should be used
to handle an exception?
When an exception is thrown within the body of a try statement, the catch clauses of the try
statement are examined in the order in which they appear. The first catch clause that is capable
of handling the exception is executed. The remaining catch clauses are ignored.
What will be the default values of all the elements of an array defined as
an instance variable?
If the array is an array of primitive types, then all the elements of the array will be initialized to
the default value corresponding to that primitive type.
What is Next?
Further, you can go through your past assignments you have done with the subject and make
sure you are able to speak confidently on them. If you are fresher then interviewer does not
expect you will answer very complex questions, rather you have to make your basics concepts
very strong.
Second it really doesn't matter much if you could not answer few questions but it matters that
whatever you answered, you must have answered with confidence. So just feel confident during
your interview. We at tutorialspoint wish you best luck to have a good interviewer and all the
very best for your future endeavor. Cheers :-)