Core Java

150 Java Interview Questions and Answers –

The ULTIMATE List (PDF Download & video)
Sotirios-Efstathios Maneas • April 7th, 2014 Last Updated: October 10th, 2023

 156  53,803  47 minutes read

Our Java Interview Questions and Answers collection is all about

different types of questions that can be used in a Java interview, in
order for the employer to test your skills in Java and object-oriented
programming in general.

In the following sections we will discuss Java Interview Questions

about object-oriented programming and its characteristics, general
questions regarding Java and its functionality, collections in Java,
garbage collectors, exception handling, Java applets, Swing, JDBC,
Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Servlets and JSP.

Let’s go…!

You can also check this tutorial in the following video:

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:
 Java Interview Questions and Answers – video

Table Of Contents
A.Object Oriented Programming (OOP)
B.General Questions about Java
C.Java Threads
D.Java Collections
E.Garbage Collectors
F.Exception Handling
G.Java Applets
H.Swing
I.JDBC
J.Remote Method Invocation (RMI)
K.Servlets
L.JSP

A. Object Oriented Programming (OOP)

1. What is Java?
Java is a computer programming language that is concurrent, class-
based and object-oriented. The advantages of object-oriented
software development are shown below:

Modular development of code, which leads to easy

maintenance and modification.

Reusability of code.

Improved reliability and flexibility of code.

Increased understanding of code.

2. What are the concepts of OOP?

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) includes:
:
 Abstraction

Encapsulation

Polymorphism

Inheritance

Predefined types must be objects

User defined types must be objects

Operations must be performed by sending messages to objects

3. Mention some features of Java

Some of the features which play important role in the popularity of
java are as follows:

Object-Oriented

Platform independent

High Performance

Multithreaded

Portable

Secure

Sample code for Helloworld in java is shown below:

Hello World

1 public class Helloworld{

2
3 public static void main(String args[])
4 {
5 System.out.println("Hello World");
6 }
7
8 }

4. Is Java 100% Object-oriented?

Not 100%. Java does not satisfy all the OOP conditions (predefined
:
 types must be objects) because it uses eight primitive data
types(Boolean, byte, char, int, float, double, long, short) which are not
objects.

5. What is Abstraction?
Abstraction is the process of separating ideas from specific instances
and thus, develop classes in terms of their own functionality, instead
of their implementation details. Java supports the creation and
existence of abstract classes that expose interfaces, without
including the actual implementation of all methods. The abstraction
technique aims to separate the implementation details of a class from
its behavior.

Abstract class Person is presented below. It has an abstract method

getName.

Abstract Class Person

1 public abstract class Person

2 {
3 public abstract String getName();
4 }

Employee class extends the Abstract class Person. The method

getName returns the name attribute of the employee.

Employee Class
:
 01 public class Employee extends Person
02 {
03 private String name;
04
05 public Employee(String name)
06 {
07 this.name = name;
08 }
09 public String getName()
10 {
11 return this.name;
12 }
13 public static void main (String args[])
14 {
15 Employee employee = new Employee("John Wilson"
16
17 System.out.println("Employee's Name "+ employee.getNa
18
19 Person person = new Employee("Thomas Smith"
20
21 System.out.println("Employee-Person's Name "
22
23
24 }
25 }

6. What is Encapsulation?
Encapsulation provides objects with the ability to hide their internal
characteristics and behavior. Each object provides a number of
methods, which can be accessed by other objects and change its
internal data. In Java, there are three access modifiers: public,
private and protected. Each modifier imposes different access rights
to other classes, either in the same or in external packages. Some of
the advantages of using encapsulation are listed below:

The internal state of every object is protected by hiding its

attributes.

It increases usability and maintenance of code, because the

behavior of an object can be independently changed or
extended.
It improves modularity by preventing objects to interact with
each other, in an undesired way.
:
 You can refer to our tutorial here for more details and examples on
encapsulation.

A sample class Student which has attributes Id and Name is shown

as an example for encapsulation.

Student Class

01 public class Student{

02 private int id;
03 private String name;
04
05 public void setId(int id)
06 {
07 this.id = id;
08 }
09
10 public void setName(String name)
11 {
12 this.name = name;
13 }
14
15 public int getId()
16 {
17 return this.id;
18 }
19
20 public String getName()
21 {
22 return this.name;
23 }
24
25 public static void main(String args[])
26 {
27 Student student=new Student();
28 student.setId(1034);
29 student.setName("David Smith");
30
31 System.out.println("Student id "+ student.getId());
32 System.out.println("Student name "+ student.getName());
33
34 }
35
36 }

7. What are the di!erences between Abstraction and

Encapsulation?
:
 Abstraction and encapsulation are complementary concepts. On the
one hand, abstraction focuses on the behavior of an object. On the
other hand, encapsulation focuses on the implementation of an
object’s behavior. Encapsulation is usually achieved by hiding
information about the internal state of an object and thus, can be
seen as a strategy used in order to provide abstraction.

8. What is Polymorphism?
Polymorphism is the ability of programming languages to present the
same interface for differing underlying data types. A polymorphic type
is a type whose operations can also be applied to values of some
other type.

You can see the example below where Vehicle interface has the
method increaseVelocity. Truck, Train and Aeroplane implement the
Vehicle Interface and the method increases the velocity to the
appropriate velocity related to the vehicle type.

Polymorphism

9. What are the types of Polymorphism?

There are two types of Polymorphism in Java:
:
 Compile-time polymorphism (Static binding) – Method
overloading
Runtime polymorphism (Dynamic binding) – Method overriding

We can perform polymorphism by Method Overloading and Method

Overriding.

Compile Time Runtime

Methods of a class have the

the subclass has method with the
same name. Each method
name as of a superclass method.
has a different number of
It has the number of paramers,
parameters . It can have
type of parameters and the return
parameters with different
type as of a superclass method.
types and order.

Method Overloading is to add

to the method behavior. It can Method Overriding is to modify
be extending to the method’s the method’s behavior .
behavior.

Overloaded methods will not Overridden methods will have

have same signature. exactly the same signature.

Inheritance is not need in this

Inheritance is reuqired.
case.

Sample code for overloading method subtract of Calculator Class is

shown below:

Calculator Class
:
 01 public class Calculator {
02
03 public int subtract(int a, int b)
04 {
05 return a-b;
06 }
07 public double subtract( double a, double b)
08 {
09 return a-b;
10 }
11
12 public static void main(String args[])
13 {
14 Calculator calculator = new Calculator();
15 System.out.println("Difference of 150 and 12 is "
16 System.out.println("Difference of 15.5 and 15.4 is "
17 }}

Method overriding is shown below in Shape class. Shape has a

method getArea.

Shape Class

1 public class Shape

2 {
3 public void getArea(){System.out.println("Shape Area"
4 }

Rectangle class overrides getArea method and the implementation of

the method is specific to Rectangle. Override annotation is used to
indicate to the compiler that the method is overridden. Readability of
the code is improved using the annotation.

Rectangle Class
:
 01 public class Rectangle extends Shape{
02
03 @Override
04 public void getArea()
05 {
06 System.out.println("Rectangle Area");
07
08 }
09
10
11
12 public static void main(String args[])
13 {
14 Shape shape = new Shape();
15
16 shape.getArea();
17
18 Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle();
19
20 rectangle.getArea();
21 }
22 }

10. What is Inheritance?

Inheritance provides an object with the ability to acquire the fields
and methods of another class, called base class. Inheritance
provides reusability of code and can be used to add additional
features to an existing class, without modifying it.

Sample class Mammal is shown below which has a constructor.

Mammal Class

1 public class Mammal{

2
3 public Mammal()
4 {
5 System.out.println("Mammal created");
6 }
7
8 }

Man class extends Mammal which has a default constructor. The

sample code is shown below.
:
 Man class

1 public class Man extends Mammal{

2
3 public Man()
4 {
5 System.out.println("Man is created");
6 }
7 }

Inheritance is tested by creating an instance of Man using default

constructor. The sample code is shown to demonstrate the
inheritance.

TestInheritance Class

1 public class TestInheritance{

2
3 public static void main(String args[])
4 {
5 Man man = new Man();
6 }
7 }

11. What is composition?

Composition is exactly like Aggregation except that the lifetime of the
‘part’ is controlled by the ‘whole’. This control may be direct or
transitive. That is, the ‘whole’ may take direct responsibility for
creating or destroying the ‘part’, or it may accept an already created
part, and later pass it on to some other whole that assumes
responsibility for it.

Sample class Car is shown below to demonstrate Composition of

tires, doors, windows and steering.

Car class
:
 01 public class Car
02 {
03 private Tire[] tires;
04
05 private Door[] doors;
06
07 private Steering steering;
08
09 private Window[] windows;
10 }
11
12 class Tire
13 {
14
15 }
16
17 class Door
18 {
19
20 }
21
22 class Steering
23 {
24
25 }
26
27 class Window
28 {
29
30 }

12. What is an association?

Association represents the ability of one instance to send a message
to another instance. This is typically implemented with a pointer or
reference instance variable, although it might also be implemented
as a method argument or the creation of a local variable.

13. What is aggregation?

Aggregation is the typical whole/part relationship. This is exactly the
same as an association with the exception that instances cannot
have cyclic aggregation relationships.

Sample class Person is shown below to demonstrate Aggregation

relationship with Address.
:
 Person class

01 public class Person

02 {
03 private Address address;
04
05 }
06
07 class Address
08 {
09 private String city;
10
11 private String state;
12
13 private String country;
14
15 private String line1;
16
17 private String line2;
18
19 }

B.General Questions about Java

14. What is JVM?
A Java virtual machine (JVM) is a process virtual machine that can
execute Java bytecode. Each Java source file is compiled into a
bytecode file, which is executed by the JVM.

15. Why is Java called the Platform Independent

Programming Language?
Java was designed to allow application programs to be built that
could be run on any platform, without having to be rewritten or
recompiled by the programmer for each separate platform. A Java
virtual machine makes this possible because it is aware of the
specific instruction lengths and other particularities of the underlying
hardware platform.

16. What is the Di!erence between JDK and JRE?

:
 The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is basically the Java Virtual
Machine (JVM) where your Java programs are being executed. It
also includes browser plugins for applet execution. The Java
Development Kit (JDK) is the full-featured Software Development Kit
for Java, including the JRE, the compilers and tools (like JavaDoc,
and Java Debugger), in order for a user to develop, compile and
execute Java applications.

JDK JRE

JDK stands for the term : Java JRE stands for the term: Java
Development Kit. Runtime Environment.

JDK is the tool for compilng, JRE is a runtime environment.

documenting and packaging JavaByte code gets executed in
Java software. the environment.

JDK has JRE and

JRE is a JVM implementation
development tools.

17. What does the static keyword mean?

The static keyword denotes that a member variable or method can
be accessed, without requiring an instantiation of the class to which it
belongs.

Sample static method which is shown below:

Static method

1 static void printGreeting()

2 {
3
4
5 }
:
 18. Can you override private or static method in Java?
A user cannot override static methods in Java, because method
overriding is based upon dynamic binding at runtime and static
methods are statically bound at compile time. A static method is not
associated with any instance of a class so the concept is not
applicable.

19. Can you access the non-static variable in static

context?
A static variable in Java belongs to its class and its value remains the
same for all its instances. A static variable is initialized when the
class is loaded by the JVM. If your code tries to access a non-static
variable, without any instance, the compiler will complain, because
those variables are not created yet and they are not associated with
any instance.

20. What are the Data Types supported by Java?

The eight primitive data types supported by the Java programming
language are:

byte

short

int

long

float

double

boolean

char

21. What is Autoboxing and Unboxing?

Autoboxing is the automatic conversion made by the Java compiler
:
 between the primitive types and their corresponding object wrapper
classes. For example, the compiler converts an int to an Integer, a
double to a Double, and so on. If the conversion goes the other way,
this operation is called unboxing.

22. What is Function Overriding and Overloading in

Java?
Method overloading in Java occurs when two or more methods in the
same class have the exact same name, but different parameters. On
the other hand, method overriding is defined as the case when a
child class redefines the same method as a parent 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.

23. What is a Constructor?

A constructor gets invoked when a new object is created. Every class
has a constructor. In case the programmer does not provide a
constructor for a class, the Java compiler (Javac) creates a default
constructor for that class.

A default constructor in java is shown in the example below:

Default Constructor

1 public Man()
2 {
3 System.out.println("Man is created");
4 }

Constructor which takes a parameter is shown in the sample below:

Constructor
:
 1 private String name;
2
3 public Employee(String name)
4 {
5 this.name = name;
6 }

24. What is Constructor Overloading?

The constructor overloading is similar to method overloading in Java.
Different constructors can be created for a single class. Each
constructor must have its own unique parameter list.

25. What is Copy-Constructor?

Finally, Java does support copy constructors like C++, but the
difference lies in the fact that Java does not create a default copy
constructor if you do not write your own.

Copy constructor for Employee class is shown below:

Copy Constructor

01 public class Employee extends Person

02 {
03 private String name;
04
05 public Employee(String name)
06 {
07 this.name = name;
08 }
09
10 public Employee(Employee emp)
11 {
12 this.name = emp.name;
13 }
14
15 }

26. Does Java support multiple inheritance?

No, Java does not support multiple inheritance. Each class is able to
:
 extend only on one class but is able to implement more than one
interfaces.

Multiple Inheritance

27. What is the di!erence between an Interface and an

Abstract class?
Java provides and supports the creation of both the abstract classes
and interfaces. Both implementations share some common
characteristics, but they differ in the following features:
:
 All methods in an interface are implicitly abstract. On the other
hand, an abstract class may contain both abstract and non-
abstract methods.
A class may implement a number of Interfaces but can extend
only one abstract class.
In order for a class to implement an interface, it must implement
all its declared methods. However, a class may not implement
all declared methods of an abstract class. Though, in this case,
the sub-class must also be declared as abstract.
Abstract classes can implement interfaces without even
providing the implementation of interface methods.
Variables declared in a Java interface is by default final. An
abstract class may contain non-final variables.

Members of a Java interface are public by default. A member of

an abstract class can either be private, protected or public.

An interface is absolutely abstract and cannot be instantiated.

An abstract class also cannot be instantiated but can be
invoked if it contains the main method.

Also, check out the Abstract class and Interface differences for JDK
8.

Interface Abstract Class

An interface has the

method signatures. It Abstract class has the abstract
does not have any methods and details to be overridden.
implementation.

A Class can implement In this case, a class can extend just

multiple interfaces one abstract class

Interface has all abstract Non abstract methods can be there in

methods. an abstract class.

Instance properties
:
 cannot be there in an Instance properties can be there in an
interface. abstract class.

An Interface is publicly An abstract class can be public,

visible or not visible. private and protected visibile.

Any change in the Adding a method to an abstract class

interface will impact the and implementing it does not require
classes implementing the change in the code for derived
interface. classes.

An Interface cannot have An abstract class can have

constructors constructors

Interfaces are slow in Abstract classes are fast in execution

terms of performance of the methods in the derived classes.

28. What are pass by reference and pass by value?

When an object is passed by value, this means that a copy of the
object is passed. Thus, even if changes are made to that object, it
does not affect the original value. When an object is passed by
reference, this means that the actual object is not passed, rather a
reference of the object is passed. Thus, any changes made by the
external method, are also reflected in all places.

Sample code is presented below which shows pass by value.

Pass by Value
:
 01 public class ComputingEngine
02 {
03 public static void main(String[] args)
04 {
05 int x = 15;
06 ComputingEngine engine = new ComputingEngine();
07 engine.modify(x);
08 System.out.println("The value of x after passing by v
09 }
10 public void modify(int x)
11 {
12 x = 12;
13 }
14 }

Below example shows pass by reference in the code.

Pass by Reference
:
 01 public class ComputingEngine
02 {
03 public static void main(String[] args)
04 {
05
06 ComputingEngine engine = new ComputingEngine();
07
08
09 Computation computation = new Computation(
10 engine.changeComputedValue(computation);
11
12 System.out.println("The value of x after passing by r
13
14 }
15
16
17
18 public void changeComputedValue(Computation computation)
19 {
20 computation = new Computation();
21 computation.x = 40;
22 }
23 }
24
25
26 class Computation
27 {
28 int x;
29 Computation(int i) { x = i; }
30 Computation() { x = 1; }
31 }

29. What is the purpose of a Volatile Variable?

Volatile variable values can be modified by different threads. They
will never have the chance to block and hold a lock. Synchronization
will happen whenever the variables are accessed. Using volatile may
be faster than a lock, but it will not work in some situations. The
range of situations in which volatile is effective was expanded in Java
5; in particular, double-checked locking now works correctly.

Sample code for volatile variable is shown below:

Volatile Variable
:
 1 public class DistributedObject {
2
3 public volatile int count = 0;
4
5 }

30. What is the purpose of a Transient variable?

A transient variable would not be serialized even if the class to which
it belongs is serialized.

Sample class which has transient variable is shown below:

Transitent variable

1 public class Paper implements Serializable

2 {
3 private int id;
4 private String title;
5 private String author;
6 private transient int version = 1;
7
8 }

31. What is Local Variable and Instance Variable?

Local variable Instance variable

Local variable is declared inside

Instance variable is declared
a method or constructor. It can
inside a class.
be declared within a block

Instance variable initialization

Local variable need to be
is not necessary. If not
initialized before use. The code
initialized, default value is
will not compile.
used.

32. What are the di!erent access modifiers available

:
 in Java?
There are four types of Access modifiers:

Public – accessible from everywhere in the application

Protected – accessible within the package and the subclasses

in any package

Package Private (Default) – accessible strictly within the

package

Private – accessible only within the same class where it is

declared

33. Di!erence between static binding and dynamic

binding
Static Binding Dynamic Binding

An example for dynamic

Definition of a procedure is related
binding is activation of a
to static binding
procedure

Declaration of a name for a

Binding of a name can be
variable is done to bind statically
dynamic bound.
the variable.

The Scope of the declaration is Lifetime of a binding is

statically bound. dynamically bound.

Sample code for static binding is shown below:

Static Binding
:
 01 public class Shape
02 {
03 public void getArea()
04 {
05 System.out.println("Shape Area");
06 }
07
08
09 public static void main(String args[])
10 {
11 Shape shape = new Shape();
12
13 shape.getArea();
14 }
15 }

Sample code for Dynamic binding is shown below:

Dynamic Binding

01 public class Rectangle extends Shape{

02
03
04 public void getArea()
05 {
06 System.out.println("Rectangle Area");
07
08 }
09
10
11
12 public static void main(String args[])
13 {
14
15 Shape shape = new Rectangle();
16
17 shape.getArea();
18 }
19 }

34. What are wrapper classes?

A wrapper class converts java primitives into objects. So a primitive
wrapper class is a wrapper class that encapsulates, hides or wraps
data types from the eight primitive data types so that these can be
used to create instantiated objects with methods in another class or
:
 in other classes. The primitive wrapper classes are found in the Java
API.

35. What is singleton class and how can we make a

class singleton?
In a singleton class we:

ensure that only one instance of the singleton class ever exists

provide global access to that instance

To create a singleton class we:

declare all constructors of the class as private

provide a static method that returns a reference to the instance

Sample code below shows Double checked Singleton class

implementation.

Singleton Class

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4 of the most common Java I…

:
 01 public class DoubleCheckedSingleton {
02 private static volatile DoubleCheckedSingleton instance;
03 public static DoubleCheckedSingleton getInstance() {
04 if (instance == null) {
05 synchronized (DoubleCheckedSingleton .
06 if (instance == null) {
07 instance = new DoubleCheckedSingleton();
08 }
09 }
10 }
11 return instance;
12 }
13
14 }

C.Java Threads
36. What is the di!erence between processes and
threads?
A process is an execution of a program, while a Thread is a single
execution sequence within a process. A process can contain multiple
threads. A Thread is sometimes called a lightweight process.

Processes Threads

Process is related to
Process consists of multiple threds.
execution of a program .

Processes communicate
Threads of a process can
with each other using inter-
communicate with each other.
process communication .

Processes have control over Threads of a process can have

the child processes. control over other threads.

Any modification in the Any modification in the main thread

parent process does not may impact the behavior of the
alter child processes other threads of the process.

Processes get executed in Threads are executed in shared

:
 separate memory spaces. memory spaces.

Developer of the software has

Operating sytem controls
control over the usage of the
the rocess .
threads.

Processes are independent Threads are dependent on each

of each other. other.

37. Explain di!erent ways of creating a thread. Which

one would you prefer and why?
There are three ways that can be used in order for a Thread to be
created:

A class may extend the Thread class.

A class may implement the Runnable interface.

An application can use the Executor framework, in order to

create a thread pool.

The Runnable interface is preferred, as it does not require an object

to inherit the Thread class. In case your application design requires
multiple inheritance, only interfaces can help you. Also, the thread
pool is very efficient and can be implemented and used very easily.

38. Explain the available thread states in a high-level.

During its execution, a thread can reside in one of the following
states:
:
 NEW: The thread becomes ready to run, but does not
necessarily start running immediately.
RUNNABLE: The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is actively
executing the thread’s code.
BLOCKED: The thread is in a blocked state while waiting for a
monitor lock.

WAITING: The thread waits for another thread to perform a

particular action.

TIMED_WAITING: The thread waits for another thread to

perform a particular action up to a specified waiting time.

TERMINATED: The thread has finished its execution.

39. What is the di!erence between a method and block

that are synchronized?
In Java programming, each object has a lock. A thread can acquire
the lock for an object by using the synchronized keyword. The
synchronized keyword can be applied in a method level (coarse-
grained lock) or block level of code (fine-grained lock).

40. How does thread synchronization occurs inside a

monitor?
The JVM uses locks in conjunction with monitors. A monitor is
basically a guardian that watches over a sequence of synchronized
code and ensuring that only one thread at a time executes a
synchronized piece of code. Each monitor is associated with an
object reference. The thread is not allowed to execute the code until
it obtains the lock.

41. What is a deadlock?

A condition that occurs when two processes are waiting for each
other to complete, before proceeding. The result is that both
processes wait endlessly.
:
 42. How do you ensure that N threads can access N
resources without deadlock?
A very simple way to avoid deadlock while using N threads is to
impose an ordering on the locks and force each thread to follow that
ordering. Thus, if all threads lock and unlock the mutexes in the
same order, no deadlocks can arise.

43. What are the di!erences between wait and sleep

method in Java?
Wait Sleep

current thread Call on a Thread

synchronizes on the happens on the
Call on
lock object when there currently executing
is a call on the object. thread.

Synchronized is used
Synchronized is used to
to sleep over the
Synchronized access the same Object
Sleeping thread from
from multiple threads..
multiple threads.

keep lock for at least t

release the lock for
times if timeout
Hold lock other objects to have
specified or somebody
the chance to execute
interrupt.

until at least time

Wake up until call notify(),
expire or call
condition notifyAll() from object
interrupt().

for multi-thread-
Usage for time-synchronization
synchronization

D.Java Collections
:
 44. What are the basic interfaces of Java Collections
Framework?
Java Collections Framework provides a well-designed set of
interfaces and classes that support operations on a collections of
objects. The most basic interfaces that reside in the Java Collections
Framework are:

Collection, which represents a group of objects known as its

elements.
Set, which is a collection that cannot contain duplicate
elements.

List, which is an ordered collection and can contain duplicate

elements.

Map, which is an object that maps keys to values and cannot

contain duplicate keys.

Collection Hierarchy

45. Why Collection does not extend Cloneable and

:
 Serializable interfaces?
The Collection interface specifies groups of objects known as
elements. Each concrete implementation of a Collection can choose
its own way of how to maintain and order its elements. Some
collections allow duplicate keys, while some other collections do not.
The semantics and the implications of either cloning or serialization
come into play when dealing with actual implementations. Thus, the
concrete implementations of collections should decide how they can
be cloned or serialized.

46. What is an Iterator?

The Iterator interface provides a number of methods that are able to
iterate over any Collection. Each Java Collection contains the iterator
method that returns an Iterator instance. Iterators are capable of
removing elements from the underlying collection during the iteration.

47. What di!erences exist between Iterator and

ListIterator?
The differences of these elements are listed below:

An Iterator can be used to traverse the Set and List collections,

while the ListIterator can be used to iterate only over Lists.

The Iterator can traverse a collection only in the forward

direction, while the ListIterator can traverse a List in both
directions.

The ListIterator implements the Iterator interface and contains

extra functionality, such as adding an element, replacing an
element, getting the index position for previous and next
elements, etc.

48. What is the di!erence between fail-fast and fail-

safe?
:
 The Iterator’s fail-safe property works with the clone of the underlying
collection and thus, it is not affected by any modification in the
collection. All the collection classes in java.util package are fail-fast,
while the collection classes in java.util.concurrent are fail-safe. Fail-
fast iterators throw a ConcurrentModificationException, while fail-safe
iterator never throws such an exception.

49. How HashMap works in Java?

A HashMap in Java stores key-value pairs. The HashMap requires a
hash function and uses hashCode and equals methods, in order to
put and retrieve elements to and from the collection respectively.
When the put method is invoked, the HashMap calculates the hash
value of the key and stores the pair in the appropriate index inside
the collection. If the key exists, its value is updated with the new
value. Some important characteristics of a HashMap are its capacity,
its load factor and the threshold resizing.

50. What is the importance of hashCode() and equals()

methods?
In Java, a HashMap uses the hashCode and equals methods to
determine the index of the key-value pair and to detect duplicates.
More specifically, the hashCode method is used in order to determine
where the specified key will be stored. Since different keys may
produce the same hash value, the equals method is used, in order to
determine whether the specified key actually exists in the collection
or not. Therefore, the implementation of both methods is crucial to
the accuracy and efficiency of the HashMap.

51. What is the di!erence between HashMap and

Hashtable?
Both the HashMap and Hashtable classes implement the Map
interface and thus, have very similar characteristics. However, they
differ in the following features:
:
 A HashMap allows the existence of null keys and values, while
a Hashtable does not allow neither null keys, nor null values.
A Hashtable is synchronized, while a HashMap is not. Thus,
HashMap is preferred in single-threaded environments, while a
Hashtable is suitable for multi-threaded environments.
A HashMap provides its set of keys and a Java application can
iterate over them. Thus, a HashMap is fail-fast. On the other
hand, a Hashtable provides an Enumeration of its keys.

The Hashtable class is considered to be a legacy class.

52. What is the di!erence between Array and

ArrayList? When will you use Array over ArrayList?
The Array and ArrayList classes differ on the following features:

Arrays can contain primitive or objects, while an ArrayList can

contain only objects.

Arrays havefixed size, while an ArrayList is dynamic.

An ArrayList provides more methods and features, such as

addAll, removeAll, iterator, etc.

For a list of primitive data types, the collections use autoboxing

to reduce the coding effort. However, this approach makes them
slower when working on fixed size primitive data types.

Array ArrayList

Array should not have values Array List can have values of
of different data types different data types.

Size of the arrray is defined at Size of the ArrayList can be

the time of declaration dynamically changed

You haveto specify the index

You do not need to specify the
in order to add data in an
index in an ArrayList
array
:
 Arrays are not type Arraylists can be type
parameterized paramaterized.

Arraylists can have only objects,

Arrays can have primitive
no primitive data types are
data types as well as objects
allowed

53. What is di!erence between ArrayList and

LinkedList?
Both the ArrayList and LinkedList classes implement the List
interface, but they differ on the following features:

An ArrayList is an index based data structure backed by an

Array. It provides random access to its elements with a
performance equal to O(1). On the other hand, a LinkedList
stores its data as list of elements and every element is linked to
its previous and next element. In this case, the search operation
for an element has execution time equal to O(n).

The Insertion, addition and removal operations of an element

are faster in a LinkedList compared to an ArrayList, because
there is no need of resizing an array or updating the index when
an element is added in some arbitrary position inside the
collection.

A LinkedList consumes more memory than an ArrayList,

because every node in a LinkedList stores two references, one
for its previous element and one for its next element.

Check also our article ArrayList vs. LinkedList.

54. What is the di!erence between Comparable and

Comparator?
:
 Java provides the Comparable interface, which contains only
one method, called compareTo. This method compares two
objects, in order to impose an order between them. Specifically,
it returns a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer to
indicate that the input object is less than, equal or greater than
the existing object.

Java provides the Comparator interface, which contains two

methods, called compare and equals. The first method
compares its two input arguments and imposes an order
between them. It returns a negative integer, zero, or a positive
integer to indicate that the first argument is less than, equal to,
or greater than the second. The second method requires an
object as a parameter and aims to decide whether the input
object is equal to the comparator. The method returns true, only
if the specified object is also a comparator and it imposes the
same ordering as the comparator.

55. What is Java Priority Queue?

The PriorityQueue is an unbounded queue, based on a priority heap
and its elements are ordered in their natural order. At the time of its
creation, we can provide a Comparator that is responsible for
ordering the elements of the PriorityQueue. A PriorityQueue does not
allow null values, those objects that do not provide natural ordering
or those objects that do not have any comparator associated with
them. Finally, the Java PriorityQueue is not thread-safe and it
requires O(log(n)) time for its enqueuing and dequeuing operations.

56. What do you know about the big-O notation and

can you give some examples with respect to di!erent
data structures?
The Big-O notation simply describes how well an algorithm scales or
performs in the worst case scenario as the number of elements in a
data structure increases. The Big-O notation can also be used to
describe other behavior such as memory consumption. Since the
:
 collection classes are actually data structures, we usually use the
Big-O notation to choose the best implementation to use, based on
time, memory and performance. Big-O notation can give a good
indication about performance for large amounts of data.

57. What is the trade-o! between using an unordered

array versus an ordered array?
The major advantage of an ordered array is that the search times
have time complexity of O(log n), compared to that of an unordered
array, which is O (n). The disadvantage of an ordered array is that
the insertion operation has a time complexity of O(n), because the
elements with higher values must be moved to make room for the
new element. Instead, the insertion operation for an unordered array
takes constant time of O(1).

58. What are some of the best practices related to the

Java Collection framework?
Choosing the right type of the collection to use, based on the
application’s needs, is very crucial for its performance. For
example if the size of the elements is fixed and know a priori,
we shall use an Array, instead of an ArrayList.
Some collection classes allow us to specify their initial capacity.
Thus, if we have an estimation on the number of elements that
will be stored, we can use it to avoid rehashing or resizing.
Always use Generics for type-safety, readability, and
robustness. Also, by using Generics you avoid the
ClassCastException during runtime.
Use immutable classes provided by the Java Development Kit
(JDK) as a key in a Map, in order to avoid the implementation of
the hashCode and equals methods for our custom class.
Program in terms of interface not implementation.

Return zero-length collections or arrays as opposed to returning

a null in case the underlying collection is actually empty.
:
 59. What is the di!erence between Enumeration and
Iterator interfaces?
Enumeration is twice as fast as compared to an Iterator and uses
very less memory. However, the Iterator is much safer compared to
Enumeration, because other threads are not able to modify the
collection object that is currently traversed by the iterator. Also,
Iterators allow the caller to remove elements from the underlying
collection, something which is not possible with Enumerations.

60. What is the di!erence between HashSet and

TreeSet?
The HashSet is Implemented using a hash table and thus, its
elements are not ordered. The add, remove, and contains methods
of a HashSet have constant time complexity O(1). On the other hand,
a TreeSet is implemented using a tree structure. The elements in a
TreeSet are sorted, and thus, the add, remove, and contains
methods have time complexity of O(logn).

E.Garbage Collectors
61. What is the purpose of garbage collection in Java,
and when is it used?
The purpose of garbage collection is to identify and discard those
objects that are no longer needed by the application, in order for the
resources to be reclaimed and reused.

62. What does System.gc() and Runtime.gc() methods

do?
These methods can be used as a hint to the JVM, in order to start a
garbage collection. However, this it is up to the Java Virtual Machine
(JVM) to start the garbage collection immediately or later in time.
:
 Sample class ReferenceObject is shown below to demonstrate the
usage of System.gc and Runtime.gc methods.

01 public class ReferenceObject

02 {
03 public void finalize()
04 {
05 System.out.println("object is garbage collected"
06
07 }
08
09 public static void main(String args[]){
10 ReferenceObject refObj1=new ReferenceObject();
11 ReferenceObject refObj2=new ReferenceObject();
12 refObj1=null;
13 refObj2=null;
14 System.gc();
15
16 Runtime.gc();
17 }
18 }

63. When is the finalize() called? What is the purpose

of finalization?
The finalize method is called by the garbage collector, just before
releasing the object’s memory. It is normally advised to release
resources held by the object inside the finalize method.

Finalize method in ReferenceObject class is shown below as an

example.

Finalize Method

1 public class ReferenceObject

2 {
3 public void finalize()
4 {
5 System.out.println("object is garbage collected"
6
7 }
8 }
:
 64. If an object reference is set to null, will the
Garbage Collector immediately free the memory held
by that object?
No, the object will be available for garbage collection in the next
cycle of the garbage collector.

65. What is structure of Java Heap?

The JVM has a heap that is the runtime data area from which
memory for all class instances and arrays is allocated. It is created at
the JVM start-up. Heap memory for objects is reclaimed by an
automatic memory management system which is known as a
garbage collector. Heap memory consists of live and dead objects.
Live objects are accessible by the application and will not be a
subject of garbage collection. Dead objects are those which will
never be accessible by the application, but have not been collected
by the garbage collector yet. Such objects occupy the heap memory
space until they are eventually collected by the garbage collector.

66. What is the di!erence between Serial and

Throughput Garbage collector?
The throughput garbage collector uses a parallel version of the
young generation collector and is meant to be used with applications
that have medium to large data sets. On the other hand, the serial
collector is usually adequate for most small applications (those
requiring heaps of up to approximately 100MB on modern
processors).

67. When does an Object becomes eligible for Garbage

collection in Java?
A Java object is subject to garbage collection when it becomes
unreachable to the program in which it is currently used.
:
 68. Does Garbage collection occur in permanent
generation space in JVM?
Garbage Collection does occur in PermGen space and if PermGen
space is full or cross a threshold, it can trigger a full garbage
collection. If you look carefully at the output of the garbage collector,
you will find that PermGen space is also garbage collected. This is
the reason why correct sizing of PermGen space is important to
avoid frequent full garbage collections. Also check our article Java 8:
PermGen to Metaspace.

F.Exception Handling
69. What are the di!erences between Checked
Exception and Unchecked Exception?
Checked Exception Unchecked Exception

known as compile time

known as Runtime exceptions
exceptions

propagated using throws keyword automatically propagated

can create custom exception by can create custom exception

extending java.lang.Exception by extending Runtime
class exception

70. What is the di!erence between Exception and Error

in java?
Exception and Error classes are both subclasses of the Throwable
class. The Exception class is used for exceptional conditions that a
user’s program should catch. The Error class defines exceptions that
are not expected to be caught by the user program.
:
 71. What is the di!erence between throw and throws?
The throw keyword is used to explicitly raise a exception within the
program. On the contrary, the throws clause is used to indicate those
exceptions that are not handled by a method. Each method must
explicitly specify which exceptions does not handle, so the callers of
that method can guard against possible exceptions. Finally, multiple
exceptions are separated by a comma.

Throw Throws

Throw is used for throwing an To declar an

exception explicitly. exception,throws is used.

Using throw only, Checked Using throws, Checked

exceptions can not be propagated. exception can be propagated.

Throw is always used with an Throws is always used with a

instance. class.

Throws is used always with

Throw is used inside the method.
the method signature.

You should not throw multiple You can declare multiple

exception exceptions.

72. What is the importance of finally block in exception

handling?
A finally block will always be executed, whether or not an exception is
actually thrown. Even in the case where the catch statement is
missing and an exception is thrown, the finally block will still be
executed. Last thing to mention is that the finally block is used to
release resources like I/O buffers, database connections, etc.

Sample code below shows the finally block when exception is

thrown.
:
 Finally Block

01 public class DivideByZeroException

02 {
03 public static void main(String []args){
04 try{
05 int a = 1;
06 System.out.println(a/0);
07 }
08 catch(Exception exception)
09 {
10 System.out.println("exception is thrown"
11 }
12 finally
13 {
14 System.out.println("after the exception is handle
15 }
16 }
17 }

73. What will happen to the Exception object after

exception handling?
The Exception object will be garbage collected in the next garbage
collection.

74. What purpose does the keywords final, finally, and

finalize fulfill?
Final keyword is used to apply restrictions on class(immutable),
method(cannot override) and variable(constant).

Finally is a block that always executes when the try block exits
even if an unexpected exception occurs.

Finalize is a method called to clean or release the resources by

the Garbage Collector before destroying the object.

G.Java Applets
75. What is an Applet?
A java applet is program that can be included in a HTML page and be
:
 executed in a java enabled client browser. Applets are used for
creating dynamic and interactive web applications.

76. Explain the life cycle of an Applet.

An applet may undergo the following states:

Init : An applet is initialized each time is loaded.

Start : Begin the execution of an applet.

Stop : Stop the execution of an applet.

Destroy : Perform a final cleanup, before unloading the applet.

Applet Lifecycle

77. What happens when an applet is loaded?

First of all, an instance of the applet’s controlling class is created.
Then, the applet initializes itself and finally, it starts running.

78. What is the di!erence between an Applet and a

Java Application?
Applets are executed within a java enabled browser, but a Java
application is a standalone Java program that can be executed
outside of a browser. However, they both require the existence of a
:
 Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Furthermore, a Java application
requires a main method with a specific signature, in order to start its
execution. Java applets do not need such a method to start their
execution. Finally, Java applets typically use a restrictive security
policy, while Java applications usually use more relaxed security
policies.

79. What are the restrictions imposed on Java applets?

Mostly due to security reasons, the following restrictions are imposed
on Java applets:

An applet cannot load libraries or define native methods.

An applet cannot ordinarily read or write files on the execution

host.

An applet cannot read certain system properties.

An applet cannot make network connections except to the host

that it came from.
An applet cannot start any program on the host that is executing
it.

80. What are untrusted applets?

Untrusted applets are those Java applets that cannot access or
execute local system files. By default, all downloaded applets are
considered as untrusted.

81. What is the di!erence between applets loaded over

the internet and applets loaded via the file system?
Regarding the case where an applet is loaded over the internet, the
applet is loaded by the applet classloader and is subject to the
restrictions enforced by the applet security manager. Regarding the
case where an applet is loaded from the client’s local disk, the applet
is loaded by the file system loader. Applets loaded via the file system
are allowed to read files, write files and to load libraries on the client.
:
 Also, applets loaded via the file system are allowed to execute
processes and finally, applets loaded via the file system are not
passed through the byte code verifier.

82. What is the applet class loader, and what does it

provide?
When an applet is loaded over the internet, the applet is loaded by
the applet classloader. The class loader enforces the Java
namespace hierarchy. Also, the class loader guarantees that a
unique namespace exists for classes that come from the local file
system, and that a unique namespace exists for each network
source. When a browser loads an applet over the net, that applet’s
classes are placed in a private namespace associated with the
applet’s origin. Then, those classes loaded by the class loader are
passed through the verifier. The verifier checks that the class file
conforms to the Java language specification. Among other things, the
verifier ensures that there are no stack overflows or underflows and
that the parameters to all bytecode instructions are correct.

83. What is the applet security manager, and what

does it provide?
The applet security manager is a mechanism to impose restrictions
on Java applets. A browser may only have one security manager.
The security manager is established at startup, and it cannot
thereafter be replaced, overloaded, overridden, or extended.

H.Swing
84. What is the di!erence between a Choice and a
List?
A Choice is displayed in a compact form that must be pulled down, in
order for a user to be able to see the list of all available choices. Only
one item may be selected from a Choice. A List may be displayed in
:
 such a way that several List items are visible. A List supports the
selection of one or more List items.

85. What is a layout manager?

A layout manager is the used to organize the components in a
container.

86. What is the di!erence between a Scrollbar and a

JScrollPane?
A Scrollbar is a Component, but not a Container. A ScrollPane is a
Container. A ScrollPane handles its own events and performs its own
scrolling.

87. Which Swing methods are thread-safe?

There are only three thread-safe methods: repaint, revalidate, and
invalidate.

88. Name three Component subclasses that support

painting.
The Canvas, Frame, Panel, and Applet classes support painting.

89. What is clipping?

Clipping is defined as the process of confining paint operations to a
limited area or shape.

90. What is the di!erence between a MenuItem and a

CheckboxMenuItem?
The CheckboxMenuItem class extends the MenuItem class and
supports a menu item that may be either checked or unchecked.
:
 91. How are the elements of a BorderLayout
organized?
The elements of a BorderLayout are organized at the borders (North,
South, East, and West) and the center of a container.

92. How are the elements of a GridBagLayout

organized?
The elements of a GridBagLayout are organized according to a grid.
The elements are of different sizes and may occupy more than one
row or column of the grid. Thus, the rows and columns may have
different sizes.

93. What is the di!erence between a Window and a

Frame?
The Frame class extends the Window class and defines a main
application window that can have a menu bar.

94. What is the relationship between clipping and

repainting?
When a window is repainted by the AWT painting thread, it sets the
clipping regions to the area of the window that requires repainting.

95. What is the relationship between an event-listener

interface and an event-adapter class?
An event-listener interface defines the methods that must be
implemented by an event handler for a particular event. An event
adapter provides a default implementation of an event-listener
interface.

96. How can a GUI component handle its own events?

:
 A GUI component can handle its own events, by implementing the
corresponding event-listener interface and adding itself as its own
event listener.

97. What advantage do Java’s layout managers provide

over traditional windowing systems?
Java uses layout managers to lay out components in a consistent
manner, across all windowing platforms. Since layout managers are
not tied to absolute sizing and positioning, they are able to
accomodate platform-specific differences among windowing systems.

98. What is the design pattern that Java uses for all
Swing components?
The design pattern used by Java for all Swing components is the
Model View Controller (MVC) pattern.

MVC

I.JDBC
99. What is JDBC?
JDBC is an abstraction layer that allows users to choose between
databases. JDBC enables developers to write database applications
in Java, without having to concern themselves with the underlying
:
 details of a particular database.

100. What are the JDBC API components?

The java.sql package contains:

Interfaces:

Driver

Connection

Statement

PreparedStatement

CallableStatement

ResultSet

Classes:

DriverManager

SQLException

101. Explain the role of Driver in JDBC.

The JDBC Driver provides vendor-specific implementations of the
abstract classes provided by the JDBC API. Each driver must provide
implementations for the following interfaces of the java.sql package:
Connection, Statement, PreparedStatement, CallableStatement,
ResultSet and Driver.

102. What is JDBC Connection interface?

Connection interface maintains a session with the database. SQL
statements are executed and results are returned within the context
of a connection. A Connection object’s database is able to provide
information describing its tables, its supported SQL grammar, its
stored procedures, the capabilities of this connection, and so on. This
information is obtained with the getMetaData method.
:
 103. What does Connection pooling mean?
The interaction with a database can be costly, regarding the opening
and closing of database connections. Especially, when the number of
database clients increases, this cost is very high and a large number
of resources is consumed.A pool of database connections is obtained
at start up by the application server and is maintained in a pool. A
request for a connection is served by a connection residing in the
pool. In the end of the connection, the request is returned to the pool
and can be used to satisfy future requests.

104. What is the role of JDBC DriverManager class?

The DriverManager provides the user with a basic service for
managing a set of JDBC drivers. It maintains contact with the
available drivers and establishes a database connection with an
appropriate one.

105. What is the purpose Class.forName method?

This method is used to load the driver that will establish a connection
to the database.

Sample Class ClassLoader is shown below to demonstrate the

usage of Class.forName() method.

Class.forName
:
 01 public class ClassLoader
02 {
03
04 public static void main(String[] args) {
05
06 try
07 {
08 Class cls = Class.forName("BasicClass"
09
10 .....
11
12 System.out.println("Class = " + cls.getName());
13
14 }
15
16 catch(ClassNotFoundException exception)
17 {
18 System.out.println(exception.toString());
19 }
20
21 }

106. What is the advantage of PreparedStatement over

Statement?
PreparedStatement is precompiled and thus, performance is much
better. Also, PreparedStatement objects can be reused with different
input values to their queries.

107. What is the use of CallableStatement?

A CallableStatement is used to execute stored procedures. Stored
procedures are stored and offered by a database. Stored procedures
may take input values from the user and may return a result. The
usage of stored procedures is highly encouraged, because it offers
security and modularity.The method that prepares a
CallableStatement is CallableStatement.prepareCall().

108. What do you mean by batch processing in JDBC?

Batch processing groups related SQL statements and execute
multiple queries when the batch size reaches a desired threshold.
This makes the performance faster.
:
 J.Remote Method Invocation (RMI)
109. What is RMI?
The Java Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI) is a Java API that
performs the object-oriented equivalent of remote procedure calls
(RPC), with support for direct transfer of serialized Java classes and
distributed garbage collection. Remote Method Invocation (RMI) can
also be seen as the process of activating a method on a remotely
running object. RMI offers location transparency because a user
feels that a method is executed on a locally running object. Check
some RMI Tips here.

110. What is the basic principle of RMI architecture?

The RMI architecture is based on a very important principle which
states that the definition of the behavior and the implementation of
that behavior, are separate concepts. RMI allows the code that
defines the behavior and the code that implements the behavior to
remain separate and to run on separate JVMs.

RMI Architecture

111. What are the layers of RMI Architecture?

:
 The RMI architecture consists of the following layers:

Stub and Skeleton layer : This layer lies just beneath the view of
the developer. This layer is responsible for intercepting method
calls made by the client to the interface and redirect these calls
to a remote RMI Service.

Remote Reference Layer : The second layer of the RMI

architecture deals with the interpretation of references made
from the client to the server’s remote objects. This layer
interprets and manages references made from clients to the
remote service objects. The connection is a one-to-one
(unicast) link.

Transport layer : This layer is responsible for connecting the two

JVM participating in the service. This layer is based on TCP/IP
connections between machines in a network. It provides basic
connectivity, as well as some firewall penetration strategies.

112. What is the role of Remote Interface in RMI?

The Remote interface serves to identify interfaces whose methods
may be invoked from a non-local virtual machine. Any object that is a
remote object must directly or indirectly implement this interface. A
class that implements a remote interface should declare the remote
interfaces being implemented, define the constructor for each remote
object and provide an implementation for each remote method in all
remote interfaces.

113. What is the role of the java.rmi.Naming Class?

The java.rmi.Naming class provides methods for storing and
obtaining references to remote objects in the remote object registry.
Each method of the Naming class takes as one of its arguments a
name that is a String in URL format.

114. What is meant by binding in RMI?

:
 Binding is the process of associating or registering a name for a
remote object, which can be used at a later time, in order to look up
that remote object. A remote object can be associated with a name
using the bind or rebind methods of the Naming class.

115. What is the di!erence between using bind() and

rebind() methods of Naming Class?
The bind method bind is responsible for binding the specified name
to a remote object, while the rebind method is responsible for
rebinding the specified name to a new remote object. In case a
binding exists for that name, the binding is replaced.

116. What are the steps involved to make work a RMI

program?
The following steps must be involved in order for a RMI program to
work properly:

Compilation of all source files.

Generation of the stubs using rmic.

Start the rmiregistry.

Start the RMIServer.

Run the client program.

RMI Flow

117. What is the role of stub in RMI?

A stub for a remote object acts as a client’s local representative or
proxy for the remote object. The caller invokes a method on the local
:
 stub, which is responsible for executing the method on the remote
object. When a stub’s method is invoked, it undergoes the following
steps:

It initiates a connection to the remote JVM containing the

remote object.

It marshals the parameters to the remote JVM.

It waits for the result of the method invocation and execution.

It unmarshals the return value or an exception if the method has

not been successfully executed.
It returns the value to the caller.

118. What is DGC and how does it work?

DGC stands for Distributed Garbage Collection. Remote Method
Invocation (RMI) uses DGC for automatic garbage collection. Since
RMI involves remote object references across JVMs, garbage
collection can be quite difficult. DGC uses a reference counting
algorithm to provide automatic memory management for remote
objects.

119. What is the purpose of using RMISecurityManager

in RMI?
RMISecurityManager provides a security manager that can be used
by RMI applications, which use downloaded code. The class loader
of RMI will not download any classes from remote locations, if the
security manager has not been set.

120. Explain Marshalling and demarshalling.

When an application wants to pass its memory objects across a
network to another host or persist it to storage, the in-memory
representation must be converted to a suitable format. This process
is called marshalling and the revert operation is called demarshalling.
:
 121. Explain Serialization and Deserialization.
Java provides a mechanism, called object serialization where an
object can be represented as a sequence of bytes and includes the
object’s data, as well as information about the object’s type, and the
types of data stored in the object. Thus, serialization can be seen as
a way of flattening objects, in order to be stored on disk, and later,
read back and reconstituted. Deserialisation is the reverse process of
converting an object from its flattened state to a live object.

K.Servlets
122. What is a Servlet?
The servlet is a Java programming language class used to process
client requests and generate dynamic web content. Servlets are
mostly used to process or store data submitted by an HTML form,
provide dynamic content and manage state information that does not
exist in the stateless HTTP protocol.

123. Explain the architecture of a Servlet.

The core abstraction that must be implemented by all servlets is the
javax.servlet.Servlet interface. Each servlet must implement it either
directly or indirectly, either by extending javax.servlet.GenericServlet
or javax.servlet.http.HTTPServlet. Finally, each servlet is able to
serve multiple requests in parallel using multithreading.
:
 Servlet Architecture

124. What is the di!erence between an Applet and a

Servlet?
An Applet is a client side java program that runs within a Web
browser on the client machine. On the other hand, a servlet is a
server side component that runs on the web server.An applet can
use the user interface classes, while a servlet does not have a user
interface. Instead, a servlet waits for client’s HTTP requests and
generates a response in every request.

125. What is the di!erence between GenericServlet

and HttpServlet?
GenericServlet is a generalized and protocol-independent servlet that
implements the Servlet and ServletConfig interfaces. Those servlets
extending the GenericServlet class shall override the service method.
Finally, in order to develop an HTTP servlet for use on the Web that
serves requests using the HTTP protocol, your servlet must extend
the HttpServlet instead. Check Servlet examples here.

126. Explain the life cycle of a Servlet.

On every client’s request, the Servlet Engine loads the servlets and
invokes its init methods, in order for the servlet to be initialized. Then,
:
 the Servlet object handles all subsequent requests coming from that
client, by invoking the service method for each request separately.
Finally, the servlet is removed by calling the server’s destroy method.

Servlet Lifecycle

127. What is the di!erence between doGet() and

doPost()?
doGET: The GET method appends the name-value pairs on the
request’s URL. Thus, there is a limit on the number of characters and
subsequently on the number of values that can be used in a client’s
request. Furthermore, the values of the request are made visible and
thus, sensitive information must not be passed in that way. doPOST:
The POST method overcomes the limit imposed by the GET request,
by sending the values of the request inside its body. Also, there is no
limitations on the number of values to be sent across. Finally, the
sensitive information passed through a POST request is not visible to
an external client.

The code below shows the BasicServlet class which has doGet and
doPost methods to be implemented.

Get and Post methods

:
 01 public class BasicServlet extends HttpServlet
02 {
03
04 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletR
05 throws ServletException, IOException
06 {
07
08 }
09
10 public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServle
11 throws ServletException, IOException
12 {
13
14 }
15
16 }
17

128. What is meant by a Web Application?

A Web application is a dynamic extension of a Web or application
server. There are two types of web applications: presentation-
oriented and service-oriented. A presentation-oriented Web
application generates interactive web pages, which contain various
types of markup language and dynamic content in response to
requests. On the other hand, a service-oriented web application
implements the endpoint of a web service. In general, a Web
application can be seen as a collection of servlets installed under a
specific subset of the server’s URL namespace.

129. What is a Server Side Include (SSI)?

Server Side Includes (SSI) is a simple interpreted server-side
scripting language, used almost exclusively for the Web, and is
embedded with a servlet tag. The most frequent use of SSI is to
include the contents of one or more files into a Web page on a Web
server. When a Web page is accessed by a browser, the Web server
replaces the servlet tag in that Web page with the hyper text
generated by the corresponding servlet.

130. What is Servlet Chaining?

:
 Servlet Chaining is the method where the output of one servlet is
sent to a second servlet. The output of the second servlet can be
sent to a third servlet, and so on. The last servlet in the chain is
responsible for sending the response to the client.

131. How do you find out what client machine is

making a request to your servlet?
The ServletRequest class has functions for finding out the IP address
or host name of the client machine. getRemoteAddr() gets the IP
address of the client machine and getRemoteHost() gets the host
name of the client machine. See example here.

132. What is the structure of the HTTP response?

The HTTP response consists of three parts:

Status Code: describes the status of the response. It can be

used to check if the request has been successfully completed.
In case the request failed, the status code can be used to find
out the reason behind the failure. If your servlet does not return
a status code, the success status code,
HttpServletResponse.SC_OK, is returned by default.
HTTP Headers: they contain more information about the
response. For example, the headers may specify the date/time
after which the response is considered stale, or the form of
encoding used to safely transfer the entity to the user. See how
to retrieve headers in Servlet here.

Body: it contains the content of the response. The body may

contain HTML code, an image, etc. The body consists of the
data bytes transmitted in an HTTP transaction message
immediately following the headers.

133. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a bit of information that the Web server sends to the
:
 browser. The browser stores the cookies for each Web server in a
local file. In a future request, the browser, along with the request,
sends all stored cookies for that specific Web server.

134. What is the di!erence between session and

cookie?
The differences between session and a cookie are the following:

The session should work, regardless of the settings on the

client browser. The client may have chosen to disable cookies.
However, the sessions still work, as the client has no ability to
disable them in the server side.

The session and cookies also differ in the amount of information

the can store. The HTTP session is capable of storing any Java
object, while a cookie can only store String objects.

135. Which protocol will be used by browser and

servlet to communicate?
The browser communicates with a servlet by using the HTTP
protocol.

136. What is HTTP Tunneling?

HTTP Tunneling is a technique by which, communications performed
using various network protocols are encapsulated using the HTTP or
HTTPS protocols. The HTTP protocol therefore acts as a wrapper for
a channel that the network protocol being tunneled uses to
communicate. The masking of other protocol requests as HTTP
requests is HTTP Tunneling.

137. What’s the di!erence between sendRedirect and

forward methods?
The sendRedirect method creates a new request, while the forward
:
 method just forwards a request to a new target. The previous request
scope objects are not available after a redirect, because it results in a
new request. On the other hand, the previous request scope objects
are available after forwarding. FInally, in general, the sendRedirect
method is considered to be slower compare to the forward method.

SendRedirect Forward

This method sends the

This method sends a new request
request to another
always. Th is because it uses the URL
resource by forwarding
bar of the browser for redirecting.
it.

This method is usead at

This method is used at client side.
server side.

This method is used

This method is used inside and outside
inside the web server
the web server.
only.

138. What is URL Encoding and URL Decoding?

The URL encoding procedure is responsible for replacing all the
spaces and every other extra special character of a URL, into their
corresponding Hex representation. In correspondence, URL
decoding is the exact opposite procedure.

139. What is Request Dispatcher?

Servlet Request Dispatcher is an interface whose implementation
defines that an object can dispatch requests to any resource (such
as HTML, Image, JSP, Servlet etc.) on the server. Another advantage
of this interface is that it is used in two cases:
:
 To include the response of one Servlet into another (i.e. the
client gets the response of both Servlets)
To forward the client request to another Servlet to honor the
request (i.e. the client calls a Servlet but the response to client
is given by another Servlet)

L.JSP
140. What is a JSP Page?
A Java Server Page (JSP) is a text document that contains two types
of text: static data and JSP elements. Static data can be expressed
in any text-based format, such as HTML or XML. JSP is a technology
that mixes static content with dynamically-generated content. See
JSP example here.

141. How are the JSP requests handled?

On the arrival of a JSP request, the browser first requests a page
with a .jsp extension. Then, the Web server reads the request and
using the JSP compiler, the Web server converts the JSP page into a
servlet class. Notice that the JSP file is compiled only on the first
request of the page, or if the JSP file has changed.The generated
servlet class is invoked, in order to handle the browser’s request.
Once the execution of the request is over, the servlet sends a
response back to the client. See how to get Request parameters in a
JSP.

142. What are the advantages of JSP?

The advantages of using the JSP technology are shown below:
:
 JSP pages are dynamically compiled into servlets and thus, the
developers can easily make updates to presentation code.
JSP pages can be pre-compiled.

JSP pages can be easily combined to static templates,

including HTML or XML fragments, with code that generates
dynamic content.

Developers can offer customized JSP tag libraries that page

authors access using an XML-like syntax.

Developers can make logic changes at the component level,

without editing the individual pages that use the application’s
logic.

143. What are Directives?

Directives are instructions that are processed by the JSP engine,
when the page is compiled to a servlet. Directives are used to set
page-level instructions, insert data from external files, and specify
custom tag libraries.

144. What are the di!erent types of Directives

available in JSP?
Directives are defined between < %@ and % >.The different types of
directives are shown below:

Include directive: it is used to include a file and merges the

content of the file with the current page.

Page directive: it is used to define specific attributes in the JSP

page, like error page and buffer.
Taglib: it is used to declare a custom tag library which is used in
the page.

145. What are JSP actions?

JSP actions use constructs in XML syntax to control the behavior of
:
 the servlet engine. They are executed when a JSP page is
requested. They can be dynamically inserted into a file, re-use
JavaBeans components, forward the user to another page, or
generate HTML for the Java plugin.Some of the available actions are
listed below:

jsp:include includes a file, when the JSP page is requested.

jsp:useBean finds or instantiates a JavaBean.

jsp:setProperty sets the property of a JavaBean.

jsp:getProperty gets the property of a JavaBean.

jsp:forward forwards the requester to a new page.

jsp:plugin generates browser-specific code.

146. What are Scriptlets?

In Java Server Pages (JSP) technology, a scriptlet is a piece of Java-
code embedded in a JSP page. The scriptlet is everything inside the
tags. Between these tags, a user can add any valid scriptlet.

147. What are Declarations?

Declarations are similar to variable declarations in Java. Declarations
are used to declare variables for subsequent use in expressions or
scriptlets. To add a declaration, you must use the sequences to
enclose your declarations.

Sample code is added below to show the JSP declarations.

Declarations

1 <%! int j = 0; %>

2 <%! int d, e, f; %>
3 <%! Shape a = new Shape(); %>

148. What are Expressions?

:
 A JSP expression is used to insert the value of a scripting language
expression, converted into a string, into the data stream returned to
the client, by the web server. Expressions are defined between <% =
and %> tags.

JSP Expresssion

1 <html>
2 <head><title>My Blog</title></head>
3
4 <body>
5 <p>Today's Date is: <%= (new java.util.Date()).toLocaleS
6 </body>
7 </html>

149. What is meant by implicit objects and what are

they?
JSP implicit objects are those Java objects that the JSP Container
makes available to developers in each page. A developer can call
them directly, without being explicitly declared. JSP Implicit Objects
are also called pre-defined variables.The following objects are
considered implicit in a JSP page:

application

page

request

response

session

exception

out

config

pageContext

JSP sample tags for disabling session is shown below:

:
 Disabling Session

1 <%@ page session=“false” %>

150. What are the di!erent tags provided in JSTL?

There are 5 type of JSTL tags:

Core:

Variable support

Flow control

URL management

Miscellaneous

XML:

Core

Flow control

Transformation

Internationalization:

Locale

Message formatting

Number and date formatting

Database:

SQL

Functions:
:
 Collection length

String manipulation

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 So, what other Java Interview Questions are there? Let us know in
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 Tags Interview Interview questions Java Applets JDBC JSP RMI

Servlets Swing Ultimate

156 COMMENTS   Oldest 

aerobless  10 years ago

That list seems really good. I study computer science

and it’ll definitely come in handy once I start looking for a
job.

3 Reply

tomi crow  7 years ago

 Reply to aerobless
Hope this will help you for java interview more…

http://net-informations.com/java/cjava/default.htm

Crow

3 Reply
:
 user  5 years ago

 Reply to aerobless
good luck for you

0 Reply

leon  10 years ago

One small error on hashCode and equals: if 2 instances

are equal, they must provide the same hashCode, BUT
two different instances may return the same hashCode.

Having hashCode always return 1 or some other fixed

number satisfies the contract, although it would kill the
performance of HashMap and other hash related
functionality.

The hashCode just determines in which hashmap bucket

the instance is put, and within that bucket the correct
instance is then looked up with the much more
expensive equals.

2 Reply

teoman  10 years ago

perfect post, thanks for sharing.

0 Reply

Madiraju Krishna Chaitanya  10 years ago

Nice Post.Thanks for sharing this with us.

0 Reply

Sumit Bisht  10 years ago

This is correct, but many topics are outdated here.

3 Reply
:
 Jeffrey Burch  10 years ago

 Reply to Sumit Bisht

Yeah, there should be some questions about Java
8 features. It will tell if the candidate puts any effort
into self improvement.

4 Reply

Nikitha  10 years ago

Really perfect post, thanks for sharing with us.

0 Reply

Robert Martin  10 years ago

This is a quality peace of work. Thank you for the effort.

0 Reply

Vlad  10 years ago

Thanks to the author

I appreciate your efforts to write everything in one place

0 Reply

raghu kumar challa  10 years ago

good very useful to all fresh engineering graduates and

experianced to get into job easily.

0 Reply

M.Hagras  10 years ago

Thanks a lot, it is very useful

0 Reply
:
 Tk  10 years ago

Very good work. It would be really great if you could add

more questions especially on the new versions of Java.
Also, few implementation examples can be posted for
different concept. You have done a great job.

-1 Reply

RAVIKUMAR.M  10 years ago

It is very useful for job seekers to get a great job. thanks

for sharing with us.

0 Reply

Ruth  10 years ago

Thanks so much for this compilation. It is very useful.

0 Reply

Nazim  10 years ago

Thanks, but found some inaccuracies:

Q33 Other threads are able to modify Collection of some
Iterator, but next called method on Iterator will throw
ConcurrentModificationException
Q37 It is recommended not to override finalize() method
in order to release resource as JVM does not guarantee
this method to be invoked.

0 Reply

satish shirale  10 years ago

Thanks, I refreshed my java knowledge once again.

0 Reply
:
 Guarav  10 years ago

Thanks … very useful

0 Reply

Madhu  10 years ago

Thanks to the author ! Keep updating !

1 Reply

Jun  10 years ago

nice job. Thank You. This tutorial is very useful for

people who seek job in programming. I just love coding.

0 Reply

Akansha  10 years ago

nice infrmation

1 Reply

ِ A hmed Mansour  10 years ago

nice infrmation

0 Reply

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