30 Simple Java Questions
30 Simple Java Questions
30 Simple Java Questions
The class System has a variable out that represents the standard output, and the
variable err that represents the standard error device. By default, they both point
at the system console. This how the standard output could be re-directed:
Stream st =
new Stream (new
FileOutputStream ("techinterviews_com.txt"));
System.setErr(st);
System.setOut(st);
2. What’s the difference between an interface and an abstract class?
An abstract class may contain code in method bodies, which is not allowed in an
interface. With abstract classes, you have to inherit your class from it and Java
does not allow multiple inheritance. On the other hand, you can implement
multiple interfaces in your class.
Synchronized blocks place locks for shorter periods than synchronized methods.
This keyword indicates that the value of this member variable does not have to be
serialized with the object. When the class will be de-serialized, this variable will
be initialized with a default value of its data type (i.e. zero for integers).
You can’t force GC, but could request it by calling System.gc(). JVM does not
guarantee that GC will be started immediately.
If you assign a superclass object to a variable of a subclass’s data type, you need
to do explicit casting. For example:
When you assign a subclass to a variable having a supeclass type, the casting is
performed automatically.
7. What’s the difference between the methods sleep() and wait()
The code sleep(1000); puts thread aside for exactly one second. The code
wait(1000), causes a wait of up to one 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.
8. Can you write a Java class that could be used both as an applet as well as an
application?
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.
10. Can you call one constructor from another if a class has multiple
constructors
This is a way to organize files when a project consists of multiple modules. It also
helps resolve naming conflicts when different packages have classes with the
same names. Packages access level also allows you to protect data from being
used by the non-authorized classes.
You need to add a directory or a jar file that contains the package directories to
the CLASSPATH environment variable. Let’s say a class Employee
belongs to a package com.xyz.hr; and is located in the file
c:/dev/com.xyz.hr.Employee.java. In this case, you’d need to add c:/dev to the
variable CLASSPATH. If this class contains the method main(), you could test it
from a command prompt window as follows:
c:\>java com.xyz.hr.Employee
13. What’s the difference between J2SDK 1.5 and J2SDK 5.0?
14. 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.
16. Can an inner class declared inside of a method access local variables of this
method?
17. What can go wrong if you replace && with & in the following code:
18. String a=null;
19. if (a!=null && a.length()>10)
{...}
This method is used to ensure that Swing components are updated through the
event-dispatching thread.
Stacks works by last-in-first-out rule (LIFO), while queues use the FIFO rule.
24. You can create an abstract class that contains only abstract methods. On the
other hand, you can create an interface that declares the same methods. So
can you use abstract classes instead of interfaces?
Sometimes. But your class may be a descendent of another class and in this case
the interface is your only option.
25. What comes to mind when you hear about a young generation in Java?
Garbage collection.
26. What comes to mind when someone mentions a shallow copy in Java?
Object cloning.
27. If you’re overriding the method equals() of an object, which other method
you might also consider?
hashCode()
28. You are planning to do an indexed search in a list of objects. Which of the
two Java collections should you use: ArrayList or LinkedList?
ArrayList
29. How would you make a copy of an entire Java object with its state?
Have this class implement Cloneable interface and call its method clone().
30. How can you minimize the need of garbage collection and make the memory
use more effective?
31. There are two classes: A and B. The class B need to inform a class A when
some important event has happened. What Java technique would you use to
implement it?
If these classes are threads I’d consider notify() or notifyAll(). For regular classes
you can use the Observer interface.
32. What access level do you need to specify in the class declaration to ensure
that only classes from the same directory can access it?
You do not need to specify any access level, and Java will use a default package
access level.