1.

Programming and Algorithms (20 Questions)

1. What is the time complexity of binary search?

Answer: O(log n)

2. Explain the difference between an array and a linked list.

Answer: Arrays have fixed size and allow random access; linked lists have dynamic size
and allow sequential access.

3. What is a hash table?

Answer: A data structure that stores key-value pairs and allows average O(1) lookup time
using a hash function.

4. Describe the difference between recursion and iteration.

Answer: Recursion is a function calling itself; iteration uses loops to repeat code.

5. What is a stack and where is it used?

Answer: A LIFO data structure used in function calls, expression evaluation, and
backtracking.

6. Explain the concept of Big O notation.

Answer: It describes the upper bound of an algorithm’s running time or space in terms of
input size.

7. What is a binary tree?

Answer: A tree data structure where each node has at most two children.

8. Name a sorting algorithm with average-case complexity O(n log n).

Answer: Merge sort or quicksort.

9. What is dynamic programming?

Answer: A method to solve problems by breaking them down into overlapping
subproblems and storing results.

10. Explain the difference between breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS).
Answer: BFS explores neighbors level by level; DFS explores as deep as possible before
backtracking.

11. What is a greedy algorithm?

Answer: An algorithm that makes the locally optimal choice at each step.

12. Define a linked list cycle and how to detect it.

Answer: A cycle occurs when a node’s next pointer points to a previous node; detected
by Floyd’s cycle-finding algorithm.
 13. What is the worst-case complexity of quicksort?
Answer: O(n²)

14. Explain the difference between a queue and a deque.

Answer: Queue is FIFO; deque allows insertion/removal at both ends.

15. What is memoization?

Answer: Storing the results of expensive function calls and returning cached results
when the same inputs occur.

16. Describe how a binary heap is used in priority queues.

Answer: It allows efficient retrieval of the highest (or lowest) priority element.

17. What is tail recursion?

Answer: A recursive call performed as the last action in a function, allowing optimization.

18. Explain the difference between a directed and undirected graph.

Answer: Directed graphs have edges with direction; undirected graphs have edges
without direction.

19. What is a topological sort?

Answer: An ordering of vertices in a directed acyclic graph such that for every directed
edge uv, u comes before v.

20. What is the difference between a function and a procedure?

Answer: A function returns a value; a procedure does not.

2. Theoretical Computer Science and Logic (20 Questions)

21. What is a Turing machine?
Answer: A theoretical model of computation that manipulates symbols on a tape
according to rules.

22. Define decidability.

Answer: A problem is decidable if there exists an algorithm that halts with a correct
yes/no answer for all inputs.

23. What is the halting problem?

Answer: The problem of determining whether an arbitrary program halts or runs forever;
it is undecidable.

24. Explain propositional logic.

Answer: Logic dealing with propositions and their connectives (AND, OR, NOT).

25. What is a logical tautology?

Answer: A formula that is true in every possible interpretation.

26. Define NP-completeness.

Answer: A class of problems for which a solution can be verified in polynomial time and
to which every NP problem can be reduced.

27. What is a finite automaton?

Answer: A simple computational model with states and transitions used to recognize
regular languages.

28. Explain the difference between syntax and semantics in formal languages.
Answer: Syntax is the structure/rules of the language; semantics is the meaning.

29. What is a context-free grammar?

Answer: A set of production rules that describe all possible strings in a context-free
language.

30. What is predicate logic?

Answer: Logic that includes quantifiers and predicates to express statements about
objects.

31. Define the Church-Turing thesis.

Answer: The hypothesis that any function computable by an algorithm can be computed
by a Turing machine.

32. What is a reduction in computational complexity?

Answer: Transforming one problem into another to show relative difficulty.
 33. Explain the difference between deterministic and nondeterministic automata.
Answer: Deterministic automata have exactly one transition per input; nondeterministic
can have multiple.

34. What is the principle of mathematical induction?

Answer: A method to prove statements for all natural numbers by proving base case and
inductive step.

35. What is a satisfiability problem (SAT)?

Answer: Determining if there exists an assignment of variables that makes a Boolean
formula true.

36. Define the notion of a proof in logic.

Answer: A sequence of logical steps that demonstrate the truth of a statement.

37. What is a model in logic?

Answer: An interpretation under which a formula or set of formulas is true.

38. Explain the difference between soundness and completeness in logic.

Answer: Soundness means only true statements are provable; completeness means all
true statements are provable.

39. What is a lambda calculus?

Answer: A formal system for expressing computation based on function abstraction and
application.

40. Define the concept of computability.

Answer: The ability of a problem to be solved by an algorithm.

3. Databases and Conceptual Modeling (20 Questions)

41. What is a primary key in a database?

Answer: A unique identifier for each record in a table.
42. Explain the difference between relational and non-relational databases.
Answer: Relational databases use tables with fixed schemas; non-relational (NoSQL) are
schema-less or flexible.

43. What is normalization?

Answer: The process of organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve integrity.

44. Define an entity-relationship (ER) model.

Answer: A conceptual diagram showing entities, attributes, and relationships.

45. What is SQL?

Answer: Structured Query Language used to manage and query relational databases.

46. Explain the ACID properties of transactions.

Answer: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability — properties ensuring reliable
transactions.

47. What is a foreign key?

Answer: A field that links to the primary key of another table.

48. Define a view in a database.

Answer: A virtual table representing the result of a query.

49. What is denormalization?

Answer: The process of adding redundancy to improve read performance.

50. Explain the difference between OLTP and OLAP.

Answer: OLTP is for transaction processing; OLAP is for analytical queries.

51. What is a NoSQL database? Give examples.

Answer: Non-relational databases like MongoDB, Cassandra, Redis.

52. Define the concept of a schema.

Answer: The structure or blueprint of a database.

53. What is a join operation?

Answer: Combining rows from two or more tables based on related columns.

54. Explain the difference between inner join and outer join.
Answer: Inner join returns matching rows; outer join returns matching plus unmatched
rows.

55. What is indexing in databases?

Answer: A data structure to speed up data retrieval.
 56. Define the concept of data integrity.
Answer: Accuracy and consistency of data over its lifecycle.

57. What is a transaction log?

Answer: A record of all changes made to the database.

58. Explain the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling in databases.
Answer: Horizontal adds more servers; vertical adds more resources to one server.

59. What is a trigger in a database?

Answer: A procedure that automatically executes in response to certain events.

60. Define conceptual modeling.

Answer: Abstract representation of organizational data and its relationships.

4. Mathematics in Computer Science (20 Questions)

61. What is the derivative of f(x) = x²?

Answer: 2x

62. Define a matrix and its dimension.

Answer: A rectangular array of numbers with rows and columns.
63. What is the dot product of two vectors?
Answer: Sum of the products of their corresponding entries.

64. Explain the concept of probability.

Answer: Measure of the likelihood of an event.

65. What is an eigenvalue?

Answer: A scalar λ such that Av = λv for matrix A and vector v.

66. Define integration.

Answer: The process of finding the area under a curve.

67. What is a stochastic process?

Answer: A process involving randomness evolving over time.

68. Explain linear independence.

Answer: Vectors where no one can be expressed as a linear combination of others.

69. What is a probability distribution?

Answer: A function that describes the likelihood of outcomes.

70. State the Pythagorean theorem.

Answer: In a right triangle, a2+b2=c2a2+b2=c2.

71. What is a vector space?

Answer: A set closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication.

72. Define the concept of a limit in calculus.

Answer: The value a function approaches as input approaches a point.

73. What is a Markov chain?

Answer: A stochastic process with memoryless property.

74. Explain the difference between discrete and continuous variables.

Answer: Discrete take distinct values; continuous take any value in an interval.

75. What is a gradient?

Answer: Vector of partial derivatives indicating the direction of steepest ascent.

76. Define the rank of a matrix.

Answer: The maximum number of linearly independent rows or columns.

77. What is Bayes’ theorem?

Answer: A formula to update probabilities based on new evidence.
 78. Explain the difference between variance and standard deviation.
Answer: Variance is the average squared deviation; standard deviation is its square root.

79. What is a function’s domain?

Answer: The set of input values for which the function is defined.

80. Define a linear transformation.

Answer: A mapping preserving vector addition and scalar multiplication.

5. Software Engineering (20 Questions)

81. What is the software development life cycle (SDLC)?

Answer: A process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying software.

82. Name the main SDLC models.

Answer: Waterfall, Agile, Spiral, V-Model, Incremental.
83. What is version control?
Answer: Managing changes to source code over time.

84. Explain the concept of unit testing.

Answer: Testing individual components for correctness.

85. What is continuous integration?

Answer: Automatically building and testing code changes frequently.

86. Define software requirements specification (SRS).

Answer: A document describing software functionality and constraints.

87. What is refactoring?

Answer: Improving code structure without changing behavior.

88. Explain the difference between black-box and white-box testing.

Answer: Black-box tests functionality without internal knowledge; white-box tests
internal logic.

89. What is a design pattern?

Answer: Reusable solution to a common software design problem.

90. Name three common design patterns.

Answer: Singleton, Observer, Factory.

91. What is technical debt?

Answer: The implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now.

92. Explain Agile methodology.

Answer: An iterative approach emphasizing collaboration and flexibility.

93. What is a software bug?

Answer: An error or flaw in software causing incorrect results.

94. Define code coverage.

Answer: The percentage of code executed by tests.

95. What is pair programming?

Answer: Two developers working together at one workstation.

96. Explain the concept of modularity.

Answer: Dividing software into separate, interchangeable modules.

97. What is a use case?

Answer: A description of how users interact with a system.
98. Define software maintenance.
Answer: Modifying software after delivery to fix issues or improve performance.

99. What is the difference between verification and validation?

Answer: Verification checks if software meets specifications; validation checks if it meets
user needs.

100. Explain DevOps.

Answer: A culture and practice combining software development and IT operations for
faster delivery.