Java interview questions and answers

part-1
Describe what happens when an object is created in Java?

Several things happen in a particular order to ensure the object is constructed properly:
1. Memory is allocated from heap to hold all instance variables and implementation-specific data of the object and its superclasses. Implementation-specific data includes pointers to class and method data.
2. The instance variables of the objects are initialized to their default values.
3. The constructor for the most derived class is invoked. The first thing a constructor does is call the constructor for its uppercase. This process continues until the constructor for java.lang.Object is called, as java.lang.Object is the base class for all objects in java.
4. Before the body of the constructor is executed, all instance variable initializers and initialization blocks are executed. Then the body of the constructor is executed. Thus, the constructor for the base class completes first and constructor for the most derived class completes last.

In Java, you can create a String object as below : String str = "abc"; & String str = new String("abc"); Why cant a button object be created as : Button bt = "abc"? Why is it compulsory to create a button object as: Button bt = new Button("abc"); Why this is not compulsory in String’s case?

Button bt1= "abc"; It is because "abc" is a literal string (something slightly different than a String object, by-the-way) and bt1 is a Button object. That simple. The only object in Java that can be assigned a literal String is java.lang.String. Important to not that you are NOT calling a java.lang.String constuctor when you type String s = "abc"; For example String x = "abc"; String y = "abc"; refer to the same object. While String x1 = new String("abc");
String x2 = new String("abc"); refer to two different objects.

What is the advantage of OOP?

You will get varying answers to this question depending on whom you ask. Major advantages of OOP are:
1. Simplicity: software objects model real world objects, so the complexity is reduced and the program structure is very clear;
2. Modularity: each object forms a separate entity whose internal workings are decoupled from other parts of the system;
3. Modifiability: it is easy to make minor changes in the data representation or the procedures in an OO program. Changes inside a class do not affect any other part of a program, since the only public interface that the external world has to a class is through the use of methods;
4. Extensibility: adding new features or responding to changing operating environments can be solved by introducing a few new objects and modifying some existing ones;
5. Maintainability: objects can be maintained separately, making locating and fixing problems easier;
6. Re-usability: objects can be reused in different programs

What are the main differences between Java and C++?

Everything is an object in Java( Single root hierarchy as everything gets derived from java.lang.Object). Java does not have all the complicated aspects of C++ ( For ex: Pointers, templates, unions, operator overloading, structures etc..) The Java language promoters initially said "No pointers!", but when many programmers questioned how you can work without pointers, the promoters began saying "Restricted pointers." You can make up your mind whether it’s really a pointer or not. In any event, there’s no pointer arithmetic. There are no destructors in Java. (automatic garbage collection), Java does not support conditional compile (#ifdef/#ifndef type). Thread support is built into java but not in C++. Java does not support default arguments. There’s no scope resolution operator :: in Java. Java uses the dot for everything, but can get away with it since you can define elements only within a class. Even the method definitions must always occur within a class, so there is no need for scope resolution there either. There’s no "goto " statement in Java. Java doesn’t provide multiple inheritance (MI), at least not in the same sense that C++ does. Exception handling in Java is different because there are no destructors. Java has method overloading, but no operator overloading. The String class does use the + and += operators to concatenate strings and String expressions use automatic type conversion, but that’s a special built-in case. Java is interpreted for the most part and hence platform independent

What are interfaces?

Interfaces provide more sophisticated ways to organize and control the objects in your system.
The interface keyword takes the abstract concept one step further. You could think of it as a “pure” abstract class. It allows the creator to establish the form for a class: method names, argument lists, and return types, but no method bodies. An interface can also contain fields, but The interface keyword takes the abstract concept one step further. You could think of it as a “pure” abstract class. It allows the creator to establish the form for a class: method names, argument lists, and return types, but no method bodies. An interface can also contain fields, but an interface says: “This is what all classes that implement this particular interface will look like.” Thus, any code that uses a particular interface knows what methods might be called for that interface, and that’s all. So the interface is used to establish a “protocol” between classes. (Some object-oriented programming languages have a keyword called protocol to do the same thing.) Typical example from "Thinking in Java":
import java.util.*;
interface Instrument {
int i = 5; // static & final
// Cannot have method definitions:
void play(); // Automatically public
String what();
void adjust();
}
class Wind implements Instrument {
public void play() {
System.out.println("Wind.play()");
public String what() { return "Wind"; }
public void adjust() {}
}

How can you achieve Multiple Inheritance in Java?
Java’s interface mechanism can be used to implement multiple inheritance, with one important difference from c++ way of doing MI: the inherited interfaces must be abstract. This obviates the need to choose between different implementations, as with interfaces there are no implementations.

interface CanFight {
void fight();
interface CanSwim {
void swim();
interface CanFly {
void fly();
class ActionCharacter {
public void fight() {}
class Hero extends ActionCharacter implements CanFight, CanSwim, CanFly {
public void swim() {}
public void fly() {}
}
You can even achieve a form of multiple inheritance where you can use the *functionality* of classes rather than just the interface:
interface A {
void methodA();
}
class AImpl implements A {
void methodA() { //do stuff }
}
interface B {
void methodB();
}
class BImpl implements B {
void methodB() { //do stuff }
}
class Multiple implements A, B {
private A a = new A();
private B b = new B();
void methodA() { a.methodA(); }
void methodB() { b.methodB(); }
}
This completely solves the traditional problems of multiple inheritance in C++ where name clashes occur between multiple base classes. The coder of the derived class will have to explicitly resolve any clashes. Don’t you hate people who point out minor typos? Everything in the previous example is correct, except you need to instantiate an AImpl and BImpl. So class Multiple would look like this:
class Multiple implements A, B {
private A a = new AImpl();
private B b = new BImpl();
void methodA() { a.methodA(); }
void methodB() { b.methodB(); }
}

What is the difference between StringBuffer and String class?

A string buffer implements a mutable sequence of characters. A string buffer is like a String, but can be modified. At any point in time it contains some particular sequence of characters, but the length and content of the sequence can be changed through certain method calls. The String class represents character strings. All string literals in Java programs, such as "abc" are constant and implemented as instances of this class; their values cannot be changed after they are created. Strings in Java are known to be immutable. What it means is that every time you need to make a change to a String variable, behind the scene, a "new" String is actually being created by the JVM. For an example: if you change your String variable 2 times, then you end up with 3 Strings: one current and 2 that are ready for garbage collection. The garbage collection cycle is quite unpredictable and these additional unwanted Strings will take up memory until that cycle occurs. For better performance, use StringBuffers for string-type data that will be reused or changed frequently. There is more overhead per class than using String, but you will end up with less overall classes and consequently consume less memory. Describe, in general, how java’s garbage collector works? The Java runtime environment deletes objects when it determines that they are no longer being used. This process is known as garbage collection. The Java runtime environment supports a garbage collector that periodically frees the memory used by objects that are no longer needed. The Java garbage collector is a mark-sweep garbage collector that scans Java’s dynamic memory areas for objects, marking those that are referenced. After all possible paths to objects are investigated, those objects that are not marked (i.e. are not referenced) are known to be garbage and are collected. (A more complete description of our garbage collection algorithm might be "A compacting, mark-sweep collector with some conservative scanning".) The garbage collector runs synchronously when the system runs out of memory, or in response to a request from a Java program. Your Java program can ask the garbage collector to run at any time by calling System.gc(). The garbage collector requires about 20 milliseconds to complete its task so, your program should only run the garbage collector when there will be no performance impact and the program anticipates an idle period long enough for the garbage collector to finish its job. Note: Asking the garbage collection to run does not guarantee that your objects will be garbage collected. The Java garbage collector runs asynchronously when the system is idle on systems that allow the Java runtime to note when a thread has begun and to interrupt another thread (such as Windows 95). As soon as another thread becomes active, the garbage collector is asked to get to a consistent state and then terminate.

What’s the difference between == and equals method?

equals checks for the content of the string objects while == checks for the fact that the two String objects point to same memory location ie they are same references.

What are abstract classes, abstract methods?

Simply speaking a class or a method qualified with "abstract" keyword is an abstract class or abstract method. You create an abstract class when you want to manipulate a set of classes through a common interface. All derived-class methods that match the signature of the base-class declaration will be called using the dynamic binding mechanism. If you have an abstract class, objects of that class almost always have no meaning. That is, abstract class is meant to express only the interface and sometimes some default method implementations, and not a particular implementation, so creating an abstract class object makes no sense and are not allowed ( compile will give you an error message if you try to create one). An abstract method is an incomplete method. It has only a declaration and no method body. Here is the syntax for an abstract method declaration: abstract void f(); If a class contains one or more abstract methods, the class must be qualified an abstract. (Otherwise, the compiler gives you an error message.). It’s possible to create a class as abstract without including any abstract methods. This is useful when you’ve got a class in which it doesn’t make sense to have any abstract methods, and yet you want to prevent any instances of that class. Abstract classes and methods are created because they make the abstractness of a class explicit, and tell both the user and the compiler how it was intended to be used.
For example:
abstract class Instrument {
int i; // storage allocated for each
public abstract void play();
public String what() {
return "Instrument";
public abstract void adjust();
}
class Wind extends Instrument {
public void play() {
System.out.println("Wind.play()");
}
public String what() { return "Wind"; }
public void adjust() {}
Abstract classes are classes for which there can be no instances at run time. i.e. the implementation of the abstract classes are not complete. Abstract methods are methods which have no defintion. i.e. abstract methods have to be implemented in one of the sub classes or else that class will also become Abstract.

What is the difference between an Applet and an Application?

A Java application is made up of a main() method declared as public static void that accepts a string array argument, along with any other classes that main() calls. It lives in the environment that the host OS provides. A Java applet is made up of at least one public class that has to be subclassed from java.awt.Applet. The applet is confined to living in the user’s Web browser, and the browser’s security rules, (or Sun’s appletviewer, which has fewer restrictions). The differences between an applet and an application are as follows:
1. Applets can be embedded in HTML pages and downloaded over the Internet whereas Applications have no special support in HTML for embedding or downloading.
2. Applets can only be executed inside a java compatible container, such as a browser or appletviewer whereas Applications are executed at command line by java.exe or jview.exe.
3. Applets execute under strict security limitations that disallow certain operations(sandbox model security) whereas Applications have no inherent security restrictions.
4. Applets don’t have the main() method as in applications. Instead they operate on an entirely different mechanism where they are initialized by init(),started by start(),stopped by stop() or destroyed by destroy().

Java says "write once, run anywhere". What are some ways this isn’t quite true?

As long as all implementaions of java are certified by sun as 100% pure java this promise of "Write once, Run everywhere" will hold true. But as soon as various java core implemenations start digressing from each other, this won’t be true anymore. A recent example of a questionable business tactic is the surreptitious behavior and interface modification of some of Java’s core classes in their own implementation of Java. Programmers who do not recognize these undocumented changes can build their applications expecting them to run anywhere that Java can be found, only to discover that their code works only on Microsoft’s own Virtual Machine, which is only available on Microsoft’s own operating systems.

What is the difference between a Vector and an Array. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both?

Vector can contain objects of different types whereas array can contain objects only of a single type.
- Vector can expand at run-time, while array length is fixed.
- Vector methods are synchronized while Array methods are not

What are java beans?

JavaBeans is a portable, platform-independent component model written in the Java programming language, developed in collaboration with industry leaders. It enables developers to write reusable components once and run them anywhere — benefiting from the platform-independent power of Java technology. JavaBeans acts as a Bridge between proprietary component models and provides a seamless and powerful means for developers to build components that run in ActiveX container applications. JavaBeans are usual Java classes which adhere to certain coding conventions:
1. Implements java.io.Serializable interface
2. Provides no argument constructor
3. Provides getter and setter methods for accessing it’s properties

What is RMI?

RMI stands for Remote Method Invocation. Traditional approaches to executing code on other machines across a network have been confusing as well as tedious and error-prone to implement. The nicest way to think about this problem is that some object happens to live on another machine, and that you can send a message to the remote object and get a result as if the object lived on your local machine. This simplification is exactly what Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) allows you to do. Above excerpt is from "Thinking in java". For more information refer to any book on Java.

What does the keyword "synchronize" mean in java. When do you use it? What are the disadvantages of synchronization?

Synchronize is used when you want to make your methods thread safe. The disadvantage of synchronize is it will end up in slowing down the program. Also if not handled properly it will end up in dead lock.

What gives java it’s "write once and run anywhere" nature?

Java is compiled to be a byte code which is the intermediate language between source code and machine code. This byte code is not platorm specific and hence can be fed to any platform. After being fed to the JVM, which is specific to a particular operating system, the code platform specific machine code is generated thus making java platform independent.

What are native methods? How do you use them?

Native methods are methods written in other languages like C, C++, or even assembly language. You can call native methods from Java using JNI. Native methods are used when the implementation of a particular method is present in language other than Java say C, C++. To use the native methods in java we use the keyword native
public native method_a(). This native keyword is signal to the java compiler that the implementation of this method is in a language other than java. Native methods are used when we realize that it would take up a lot of rework to write that piece of already existing code in other language to Java.

What is JDBC? Describe the steps needed to execute a SQL query using JDBC.

We can connect to databases from java using JDBC. It stands for Java DataBase Connectivity.
Here are the steps:
1. Register the jdbc driver with the driver manager
2. Establish jdbc connection
3. Execute an sql statement
4. Process the results
5. Close the connection
Before doing these do import java.sql.*
JDBC is java based API for accessing data from the relational databases. JDBC provides a set of classes and interfaces for doing various database operations. The steps are:
Register/load the jdbc driver with the driver manager.
Establish the connection thru DriverManager.getConnection();
Fire a SQL thru conn.executeStatement();
Fetch the results in a result set
Process the results
Close statement/result set and connection object.

How many different types of JDBC drivers are present? Discuss them.

There are four JDBC driver types.
Type 1: JDBC-ODBC Bridge plus ODBC Driver:
The first type of JDBC driver is the JDBC-ODBC Bridge. It is a driver that provides JDBC access to databases through ODBC drivers. The ODBC driver must be configured on the client for the bridge to work. This driver type is commonly used for prototyping or when there is no JDBC driver available for a particular DBMS.
Type 2: Native-API partly-Java Driver:
The Native to API driver converts JDBC commands to DBMS-specific native calls. This is much like the restriction of Type 1 drivers. The client must have some binary code loaded on its machine. These drivers do have an advantage over Type 1 drivers because they interface directly with the database.
Type 3: JDBC-Net Pure Java Driver:
The JDBC-Net drivers are a three-tier solution. This type of driver translates JDBC calls into a database-independent network protocol that is sent to a middleware server. This server then translates this DBMS-independent protocol into a DBMS-specific protocol, which is sent
to a particular database. The results are then routed back through the middleware server and sent back to the client. This type of solution makes it possible to implement a pure Java client. It also makes it possible to swap databases without affecting the client.
Type 4: Native-Protocol Pure Java Driver
These are pure Java drivers that communicate directly with the vendor’s database. They do this by converting JDBC commands directly into the database engine’s native protocol. This driver has no additional translation or middleware layer, which improves performance tremendously.
What does the "static" keyword mean in front of a variable? A method? A class? Curly braces {}?
static variable
- means a class level variable
static method:
-does not have "this". It is not allowed to access the not static members of the class.
can be invoked enev before a single instance of a class is created.
eg: main
static class:
no such thing.
static free floating block:
is executed at the time the class is loaded. There can be multiple such blocks. This may be useful to load native libraries when using native methods.
eg:
native void doThis(){
static{
System.loadLibrary("myLibrary.lib");
}

Access specifiers: "public", "protected", "private", nothing?

In the case of Public, Private and Protected, that is used to describe which programs can access that class or method: Public – any other class from any package can instantiate and execute the classes and methods. Protected – only subclasses and classes inside of the package can access the classes and methods. Private – the original class is the only class allowed to executed the methods.

What does the "final" keyword mean in front of a variable? A method? A class?

FINAL for a variable : value is constant
FINAL for a method : cannot be overridden
FINAL for a class : cannot be derived
A final variable cannot be reassigned,
but it is not constant. For instance,
final StringBuffer x = new StringBuffer()
x.append("hello");
is valid. X cannot have a new value in it,but nothing stops operations on the object
that it refers, including destructive operations. Also, a final method cannot be overridden
or hidden by new access specifications.This means that the compiler can choose
to in-line the invocation of such a method.(I don’t know if any compiler actually does
this, but it’s true in theory.) The best example of a final class is
String, which defines a class that cannot be derived.

Does Java have "goto"?

No.

What synchronization constructs does Java provide? How do they work?

The two common features that are used are:
1. Synchronized keyword - Used to synchronize a method or a block of code. When you synchronize a method, you are in effect synchronizing the code within the method using the monitor of the current object for the lock.
The following have the same effect.
synchronized void foo() {
}
and
void foo() {
synchronized(this) {
}
If you synchronize a static method, then you are synchronizing across all objects of the same class, i.e. the monitor you are using for the lock is one per class, not one per object.
2. wait/notify. wait() needs to be called from within a synchronized block. It will first release the lock acquired from the synchronization and then wait for a signal. In Posix C, this part is equivalent to the pthread_cond_wait method, which waits for an OS signal to continue. When somebody calls notify() on the object, this will signal the code which has been waiting, and the code will continue from that point. If there are several sections of code that are in the wait state, you can call notifyAll() which will notify all threads that are waiting on the monitor for the current object. Remember that both wait() and notify() have to be called from blocks of code that are synchronized on the monitor for the current object.

Does Java have multiple inheritance?

Java does not support multiple inheritence directly but it does thru the concept of interfaces.
We can make a class implement a number of interfaces if we want to achieve multiple inheritence type of functionality of C++.

How does exception handling work in Java?

1.It separates the working/functional code from the error-handling code by way of try-catch clauses.
2.It allows a clean path for error propagation. If the called method encounters a situation it can’t manage, it can throw an exception and let the calling method deal with it.
3.By enlisting the compiler to ensure that "exceptional" situations are anticipated and accounted for, it enforces powerful coding.
4.Exceptions are of two types: Compiler-enforced exceptions, or checked exceptions. Runtime exceptions, or unchecked exceptions. Compiler-enforced (checked) exceptions are instances of the Exception class or one of its subclasses — excluding the RuntimeException branch. The compiler expects all checked exceptions to be appropriately handled. Checked exceptions must be declared in the throws clause of the method throwing them — assuming, of course, they’re not being caught within that same method. The calling method must take care of these exceptions by either catching or declaring them in its throws clause. Thus, making an exception checked forces the us to pay heed to the possibility of it being thrown. An example of a checked exception is java.io.IOException. As the name suggests, it throws whenever an input/output operation is abnormally terminated.

Does Java have destructors?

Garbage collector does the job working in the background
Java does not have destructors; but it has finalizers that does a similar job.
the syntax is
public void finalize(){
}
if an object has a finalizer, the method is invoked before the system garbage collects the object

What does the "abstract" keyword mean in front of a method? A class?

Abstract keyword declares either a method or a class.
If a method has a abstract keyword in front of it,it is called abstract method.Abstract method hs no body.It has only arguments and return type.Abstract methods act as placeholder methods that are implemented in the subclasses.
Abstract classes can’t be instantiated.If a class is declared as abstract,no objects of that class can be created.If a class contains any abstract method it must be declared as abstract

Are Java constructors inherited ? If not, why not?

You cannot inherit a constructor. That is, you cannot create a instance of a subclass using a constructor of one of it’s superclasses. One of the main reasons is because you probably don’t want to overide the superclasses constructor, which would be possible if they were inherited. By giving the developer the ability to override a superclasses constructor you would erode the encapsulation abilities of the language.

part-2

115 questions total, not for the weak. Covers everything from basics to JDBC connectivity, AWT and JSP.

What is the difference between procedural and object-oriented programs?- a) In procedural program, programming logic follows certain procedures and the instructions are executed one after another. In OOP program, unit of program is object, which is nothing but combination of data and code. b) In procedural program, data is exposed to the whole program whereas in OOPs program, it is accessible with in the object and which in turn assures the security of the code.
What are Encapsulation, Inheritance and Polymorphism?- Encapsulation is the mechanism that binds together code and data it manipulates and keeps both safe from outside interference and misuse. Inheritance is the process by which one object acquires the properties of another object. Polymorphism is the feature that allows one interface to be used for general class actions.
What is the difference between Assignment and Initialization?- Assignment can be done as many times as desired whereas initialization can be done only once.

What is OOPs?- Object oriented programming organizes a program around its data, i. e. , objects and a set of well defined interfaces to that data. An object-oriented program can be characterized as data controlling access to code.
What are Class, Constructor and Primitive data types?- Class is a template for multiple objects with similar features and it is a blue print for objects. It defines a type of object according to the data the object can hold and the operations the object can perform. Constructor is a special kind of method that determines how an object is initialized when created. Primitive data types are 8 types and they are: byte, short, int, long, float, double, boolean, char.
What is an Object and how do you allocate memory to it?- Object is an instance of a class and it is a software unit that combines a structured set of data with a set of operations for inspecting and manipulating that data. When an object is created using new operator, memory is allocated to it.
What is the difference between constructor and method?- Constructor will be automatically invoked when an object is created whereas method has to be called explicitly.
What are methods and how are they defined?- Methods are functions that operate on instances of classes in which they are defined. Objects can communicate with each other using methods and can call methods in other classes. Method definition has four parts. They are name of the method, type of object or primitive type the method returns, a list of parameters and the body of the method. A method’s signature is a combination of the first three parts mentioned above.
What is the use of bin and lib in JDK?- Bin contains all tools such as javac, appletviewer, awt tool, etc., whereas lib contains API and all packages.
What is casting?- Casting is used to convert the value of one type to another.
How many ways can an argument be passed to a subroutine and explain them?- An argument can be passed in two ways. They are passing by value and passing by reference. Passing by value: This method copies the value of an argument into the formal parameter of the subroutine. Passing by reference: In this method, a reference to an argument (not the value of the argument) is passed to the parameter.
What is the difference between an argument and a parameter?- While defining method, variables passed in the method are called parameters. While using those methods, values passed to those variables are called arguments.
What are different types of access modifiers?- public: Any thing declared as public can be accessed from anywhere. private: Any thing declared as private can’t be seen outside of its class. protected: Any thing declared as protected can be accessed by classes in the same package and subclasses in the other packages. default modifier : Can be accessed only to classes in the same package.
What is final, finalize() and finally?- final : final keyword can be used for class, method and variables. A final class cannot be subclassed and it prevents other programmers from subclassing a secure class to invoke insecure methods. A final method can’t be overridden. A final variable can’t change from its initialized value. finalize() : finalize() method is used just before an object is destroyed and can be called just prior to garbage collection. finally : finally, a key word used in exception handling, creates a block of code that will be executed after a try/catch block has completed and before the code following the try/catch block. The finally block will execute whether or not an exception is thrown. For example, if a method opens a file upon exit, then you will not want the code that closes the file to be bypassed by the exception-handling mechanism. This finally keyword is designed to address this contingency.
What is UNICODE?- Unicode is used for internal representation of characters and strings and it uses 16 bits to represent each other.
What is Garbage Collection and how to call it explicitly?- When an object is no longer referred to by any variable, java automatically reclaims memory used by that object. This is known as garbage collection. System. gc() method may be used to call it explicitly.
What is finalize() method?- finalize () method is used just before an object is destroyed and can be called just prior to garbage collection.
What are Transient and Volatile Modifiers?- Transient: The transient modifier applies to variables only and it is not stored as part of its object’s Persistent state. Transient variables are not serialized. Volatile: Volatile modifier applies to variables only and it tells the compiler that the variable modified by volatile can be changed unexpectedly by other parts of the program.
What is method overloading and method overriding?- Method overloading: When a method in a class having the same method name with different arguments is said to be method overloading. Method overriding : When a method in a class having the same method name with same arguments is said to be method overriding.
What is difference between overloading and overriding?- a) In overloading, there is a relationship between methods available in the same class whereas in overriding, there is relationship between a superclass method and subclass method. b) Overloading does not block inheritance from the superclass whereas overriding blocks inheritance from the superclass. c) In overloading, separate methods share the same name whereas in overriding, subclass method replaces the superclass. d) Overloading must have different method signatures whereas overriding must have same signature.
What is meant by Inheritance and what are its advantages?- Inheritance is the process of inheriting all the features from a class. The advantages of inheritance are reusability of code and accessibility of variables and methods of the super class by subclasses.
What is the difference between this() and super()?- this() can be used to invoke a constructor of the same class whereas super() can be used to invoke a super class constructor.
What is the difference between superclass and subclass?- A super class is a class that is inherited whereas sub class is a class that does the inheriting.
What modifiers may be used with top-level class?- public, abstract and final can be used for top-level class.
What are inner class and anonymous class?- Inner class : classes defined in other classes, including those defined in methods are called inner classes. An inner class can have any accessibility including private. Anonymous class : Anonymous class is a class defined inside a method without a name and is instantiated and declared in the same place and cannot have explicit constructors.
What is a package?- A package is a collection of classes and interfaces that provides a high-level layer of access protection and name space management.
What is a reflection package?- java. lang. reflect package has the ability to analyze itself in runtime.
What is interface and its use?- Interface is similar to a class which may contain method’s signature only but not bodies and it is a formal set of method and constant declarations that must be defined by the class that implements it. Interfaces are useful for: a)Declaring methods that one or more classes are expected to implement b)Capturing similarities between unrelated classes without forcing a class relationship. c)Determining an object’s programming interface without revealing the actual body of the class.
What is an abstract class?- An abstract class is a class designed with implementation gaps for subclasses to fill in and is deliberately incomplete.
What is the difference between Integer and int?- a) Integer is a class defined in the java. lang package, whereas int is a primitive data type defined in the Java language itself. Java does not automatically convert from one to the other. b) Integer can be used as an argument for a method that requires an object, whereas int can be used for calculations.
What is a cloneable interface and how many methods does it contain?- It is not having any method because it is a TAGGED or MARKER interface.
What is the difference between abstract class and interface?- a) All the methods declared inside an interface are abstract whereas abstract class must have at least one abstract method and others may be concrete or abstract. b) In abstract class, key word abstract must be used for the methods whereas interface we need not use that keyword for the methods. c) Abstract class must have subclasses whereas interface can’t have subclasses.
Can you have an inner class inside a method and what variables can you access?- Yes, we can have an inner class inside a method and final variables can be accessed.
What is the difference between String and String Buffer?- a) String objects are constants and immutable whereas StringBuffer objects are not. b) String class supports constant strings whereas StringBuffer class supports growable and modifiable strings.
What is the difference between Array and vector?- Array is a set of related data type and static whereas vector is a growable array of objects and dynamic.
What is the difference between exception and error?- The exception class defines mild error conditions that your program encounters. Exceptions can occur when trying to open the file, which does not exist, the network connection is disrupted, operands being manipulated are out of prescribed ranges, the class file you are interested in loading is missing. The error class defines serious error conditions that you should not attempt to recover from. In most cases it is advisable to let the program terminate when such an error is encountered.
What is the difference between process and thread?- Process is a program in execution whereas thread is a separate path of execution in a program.
What is multithreading and what are the methods for inter-thread communication and what is the class in which these methods are defined?- Multithreading is the mechanism in which more than one thread run independent of each other within the process. wait (), notify () and notifyAll() methods can be used for inter-thread communication and these methods are in Object class. wait() : When a thread executes a call to wait() method, it surrenders the object lock and enters into a waiting state. notify() or notifyAll() : To remove a thread from the waiting state, some other thread must make a call to notify() or notifyAll() method on the same object.
What is the class and interface in java to create thread and which is the most advantageous method?- Thread class and Runnable interface can be used to create threads and using Runnable interface is the most advantageous method to create threads because we need not extend thread class here.
What are the states associated in the thread?- Thread contains ready, running, waiting and dead states.
What is synchronization?- Synchronization is the mechanism that ensures that only one thread is accessed the resources at a time.
When you will synchronize a piece of your code?- When you expect your code will be accessed by different threads and these threads may change a particular data causing data corruption.
What is deadlock?- When two threads are waiting each other and can’t precede the program is said to be deadlock.
What is daemon thread and which method is used to create the daemon thread?- Daemon thread is a low priority thread which runs intermittently in the back ground doing the garbage collection operation for the java runtime system. setDaemon method is used to create a daemon thread.
Are there any global variables in Java, which can be accessed by other part of your program?- No, it is not the main method in which you define variables. Global variables is not possible because concept of encapsulation is eliminated here.
What is an applet?- Applet is a dynamic and interactive program that runs inside a web page displayed by a java capable browser.
What is the difference between applications and applets?- a)Application must be run on local machine whereas applet needs no explicit installation on local machine. b)Application must be run explicitly within a java-compatible virtual machine whereas applet loads and runs itself automatically in a java-enabled browser. d)Application starts execution with its main method whereas applet starts execution with its init method. e)Application can run with or without graphical user interface whereas applet must run within a graphical user interface.
How does applet recognize the height and width?- Using getParameters() method.
When do you use codebase in applet?- When the applet class file is not in the same directory, codebase is used.
What is the lifecycle of an applet?- init() method - Can be called when an applet is first loaded start() method - Can be called each time an applet is started. paint() method - Can be called when the applet is minimized or maximized. stop() method - Can be used when the browser moves off the applet’s page. destroy() method - Can be called when the browser is finished with the applet.
How do you set security in applets?- using setSecurityManager() method
What is an event and what are the models available for event handling?- An event is an event object that describes a state of change in a source. In other words, event occurs when an action is generated, like pressing button, clicking mouse, selecting a list, etc. There are two types of models for handling events and they are: a) event-inheritance model and b) event-delegation model
What are the advantages of the model over the event-inheritance model?- The event-delegation model has two advantages over the event-inheritance model. They are: a)It enables event handling by objects other than the ones that generate the events. This allows a clean separation between a component’s design and its use. b)It performs much better in applications where many events are generated. This performance improvement is due to the fact that the event-delegation model does not have to be repeatedly process unhandled events as is the case of the event-inheritance.
What is source and listener?- source : A source is an object that generates an event. This occurs when the internal state of that object changes in some way. listener : A listener is an object that is notified when an event occurs. It has two major requirements. First, it must have been registered with one or more sources to receive notifications about specific types of events. Second, it must implement methods to receive and process these notifications.
What is adapter class?- An adapter class provides an empty implementation of all methods in an event listener interface. Adapter classes are useful when you want to receive and process only some of the events that are handled by a particular event listener interface. You can define a new class to act listener by extending one of the adapter classes and implementing only those events in which you are interested. For example, the MouseMotionAdapter class has two methods, mouseDragged()and mouseMoved(). The signatures of these empty are exactly as defined in the MouseMotionListener interface. If you are interested in only mouse drag events, then you could simply extend MouseMotionAdapter and implement mouseDragged() .
What is meant by controls and what are different types of controls in AWT?- Controls are components that allow a user to interact with your application and the AWT supports the following types of controls: Labels, Push Buttons, Check Boxes, Choice Lists, Lists, Scrollbars, Text Components. These controls are subclasses of Component.
What is the difference between choice and list?- A Choice is displayed in a compact form that requires you to pull it down to see the list of available choices and only one item may be selected from a choice. A List may be displayed in such a way that several list items are visible and it supports the selection of one or more list items.
What is the difference between scrollbar and scrollpane?- A Scrollbar is a Component, but not a Container whereas Scrollpane is a Conatiner and handles its own events and perform its own scrolling.
What is a layout manager and what are different types of layout managers available in java AWT?- A layout manager is an object that is used to organize components in a container. The different layouts are available are FlowLayout, BorderLayout, CardLayout, GridLayout and GridBagLayout.
How are the elements of different layouts organized?- FlowLayout: The elements of a FlowLayout are organized in a top to bottom, left to right fashion. BorderLayout: The elements of a BorderLayout are organized at the borders (North, South, East and West) and the center of a container. CardLayout: The elements of a CardLayout are stacked, on top of the other, like a deck of cards. GridLayout: The elements of a GridLayout are of equal size and are laid out using the square of a grid. GridBagLayout: The elements of a GridBagLayout are organized according to a grid. However, the elements are of different size and may occupy more than one row or column of the grid. In addition, the rows and columns may have different sizes.
Which containers use a Border layout as their default layout?- Window, Frame and Dialog classes use a BorderLayout as their layout.
Which containers use a Flow layout as their default layout?- Panel and Applet classes use the FlowLayout as their default layout.
What are wrapper classes?- Wrapper classes are classes that allow primitive types to be accessed as objects.
What are Vector, Hashtable, LinkedList and Enumeration?- Vector : The Vector class provides the capability to implement a growable array of objects. Hashtable : The Hashtable class implements a Hashtable data structure. A Hashtable indexes and stores objects in a dictionary using hash codes as the object’s keys. Hash codes are integer values that identify objects. LinkedList: Removing or inserting elements in the middle of an array can be done using LinkedList. A LinkedList stores each object in a separate link whereas an array stores object references in consecutive locations. Enumeration: An object that implements the Enumeration interface generates a series of elements, one at a time. It has two methods, namely hasMoreElements() and nextElement(). HasMoreElemnts() tests if this enumeration has more elements and nextElement method returns successive elements of the series.
What is the difference between set and list?- Set stores elements in an unordered way but does not contain duplicate elements, whereas list stores elements in an ordered way but may contain duplicate elements.
What is a stream and what are the types of Streams and classes of the Streams?- A Stream is an abstraction that either produces or consumes information. There are two types of Streams and they are: Byte Streams: Provide a convenient means for handling input and output of bytes. Character Streams: Provide a convenient means for handling input & output of characters. Byte Streams classes: Are defined by using two abstract classes, namely InputStream and OutputStream. Character Streams classes: Are defined by using two abstract classes, namely Reader and Writer.
What is the difference between Reader/Writer and InputStream/Output Stream?- The Reader/Writer class is character-oriented and the InputStream/OutputStream class is byte-oriented.
What is an I/O filter?- An I/O filter is an object that reads from one stream and writes to another, usually altering the data in some way as it is passed from one stream to another.
What is serialization and deserialization?- Serialization is the process of writing the state of an object to a byte stream. Deserialization is the process of restoring these objects.
What is JDBC?- JDBC is a set of Java API for executing SQL statements. This API consists of a set of classes and interfaces to enable programs to write pure Java Database applications.
What are drivers available?- a) JDBC-ODBC Bridge driver b) Native API Partly-Java driver c) JDBC-Net Pure Java driver d) Native-Protocol Pure Java driver
What is the difference between JDBC and ODBC?- a) OBDC is for Microsoft and JDBC is for Java applications. b) ODBC can’t be directly used with Java because it uses a C interface. c) ODBC makes use of pointers which have been removed totally from Java. d) ODBC mixes simple and advanced features together and has complex options for simple queries. But JDBC is designed to keep things simple while allowing advanced capabilities when required. e) ODBC requires manual installation of the ODBC driver manager and driver on all client machines. JDBC drivers are written in Java and JDBC code is automatically installable, secure, and portable on all platforms. f) JDBC API is a natural Java interface and is built on ODBC. JDBC retains some of the basic features of ODBC.
What are the types of JDBC Driver Models and explain them?- There are two types of JDBC Driver Models and they are: a) Two tier model and b) Three tier model Two tier model: In this model, Java applications interact directly with the database. A JDBC driver is required to communicate with the particular database management system that is being accessed. SQL statements are sent to the database and the results are given to user. This model is referred to as client/server configuration where user is the client and the machine that has the database is called as the server. Three tier model: A middle tier is introduced in this model. The functions of this model are: a) Collection of SQL statements from the client and handing it over to the database, b) Receiving results from database to the client and c) Maintaining control over accessing and updating of the above.
What are the steps involved for making a connection with a database or how do you connect to a database?a) Loading the driver : To load the driver, Class. forName() method is used. Class. forName(”sun. jdbc. odbc. JdbcOdbcDriver”); When the driver is loaded, it registers itself with the java. sql. DriverManager class as an available database driver. b) Making a connection with database: To open a connection to a given database, DriverManager. getConnection() method is used. Connection con = DriverManager. getConnection (”jdbc:odbc:somedb”, “user”, “password”); c) Executing SQL statements : To execute a SQL query, java. sql. statements class is used. createStatement() method of Connection to obtain a new Statement object. Statement stmt = con. createStatement(); A query that returns data can be executed using the executeQuery() method of Statement. This method executes the statement and returns a java. sql. ResultSet that encapsulates the retrieved data: ResultSet rs = stmt. executeQuery(”SELECT * FROM some table”); d) Process the results : ResultSet returns one row at a time. Next() method of ResultSet object can be called to move to the next row. The getString() and getObject() methods are used for retrieving column values: while(rs. next()) { String event = rs. getString(”event”); Object count = (Integer) rs. getObject(”count”);
What type of driver did you use in project?- JDBC-ODBC Bridge driver (is a driver that uses native(C language) libraries and makes calls to an existing ODBC driver to access a database engine).
What are the types of statements in JDBC?- Statement: to be used createStatement() method for executing single SQL statement PreparedStatement — To be used preparedStatement() method for executing same SQL statement over and over. CallableStatement — To be used prepareCall() method for multiple SQL statements over and over.
What is stored procedure?- Stored procedure is a group of SQL statements that forms a logical unit and performs a particular task. Stored Procedures are used to encapsulate a set of operations or queries to execute on database. Stored procedures can be compiled and executed with different parameters and results and may have any combination of input/output parameters.
How to create and call stored procedures?- To create stored procedures: Create procedure procedurename (specify in, out and in out parameters) BEGIN Any multiple SQL statement; END; To call stored procedures: CallableStatement csmt = con. prepareCall(”{call procedure name(?,?)}”); csmt. registerOutParameter(column no. , data type); csmt. setInt(column no. , column name) csmt. execute();
What is servlet?- Servlets are modules that extend request/response-oriented servers, such as java-enabled web servers. For example, a servlet might be responsible for taking data in an HTML order-entry form and applying the business logic used to update a company’s order database.
What are the classes and interfaces for servlets?- There are two packages in servlets and they are javax. servlet and
What is the difference between an applet and a servlet?- a) Servlets are to servers what applets are to browsers. b) Applets must have graphical user interfaces whereas servlets have no graphical user interfaces.
What is the difference between doPost and doGet methods?- a) doGet() method is used to get information, while doPost() method is used for posting information. b) doGet() requests can’t send large amount of information and is limited to 240-255 characters. However, doPost()requests passes all of its data, of unlimited length. c) A doGet() request is appended to the request URL in a query string and this allows the exchange is visible to the client, whereas a doPost() request passes directly over the socket connection as part of its HTTP request body and the exchange are invisible to the client.
What is the life cycle of a servlet?- Each Servlet has the same life cycle: a) A server loads and initializes the servlet by init () method. b) The servlet handles zero or more client’s requests through service() method. c) The server removes the servlet through destroy() method.
Who is loading the init() method of servlet?- Web server
What are the different servers available for developing and deploying Servlets?- a) Java Web Server b) JRun g) Apache Server h) Netscape Information Server i) Web Logic
How many ways can we track client and what are they?- The servlet API provides two ways to track client state and they are: a) Using Session tracking and b) Using Cookies.
What is session tracking and how do you track a user session in servlets?- Session tracking is a mechanism that servlets use to maintain state about a series requests from the same user across some period of time. The methods used for session tracking are: a) User Authentication - occurs when a web server restricts access to some of its resources to only those clients that log in using a recognized username and password. b) Hidden form fields - fields are added to an HTML form that are not displayed in the client’s browser. When the form containing the fields is submitted, the fields are sent back to the server. c) URL rewriting - every URL that the user clicks on is dynamically modified or rewritten to include extra information. The extra information can be in the form of extra path information, added parameters or some custom, server-specific URL change. d) Cookies - a bit of information that is sent by a web server to a browser and which can later be read back from that browser. e) HttpSession- places a limit on the number of sessions that can exist in memory. This limit is set in the session. maxresidents property.
What is Server-Side Includes (SSI)?- Server-Side Includes allows embedding servlets within HTML pages using a special servlet tag. In many servlets that support servlets, a page can be processed by the server to include output from servlets at certain points inside the HTML page. This is accomplished using a special internal SSINCLUDE, which processes the servlet tags. SSINCLUDE servlet will be invoked whenever a file with an. shtml extension is requested. So HTML files that include server-side includes must be stored with an . shtml extension.
What are cookies and how will you use them?- Cookies are a mechanism that a servlet uses to have a client hold a small amount of state-information associated with the user. a) Create a cookie with the Cookie constructor: public Cookie(String name, String value) b) A servlet can send a cookie to the client by passing a Cookie object to the addCookie() method of HttpServletResponse: public void HttpServletResponse. addCookie(Cookie cookie) c) A servlet retrieves cookies by calling the getCookies() method of HttpServletRequest: public Cookie[ ] HttpServletRequest. getCookie().
Is it possible to communicate from an applet to servlet and how many ways and how?- Yes, there are three ways to communicate from an applet to servlet and they are: a) HTTP Communication(Text-based and object-based) b) Socket Communication c) RMI Communication
What is connection pooling?- With servlets, opening a database connection is a major bottleneck because we are creating and tearing down a new connection for every page request and the time taken to create connection will be more. Creating a connection pool is an ideal approach for a complicated servlet. With a connection pool, we can duplicate only the resources we need to duplicate rather than the entire servlet. A connection pool can also intelligently manage the size of the pool and make sure each connection remains valid. A number of connection pool packages are currently available. Some like DbConnectionBroker are freely available from Java Exchange Works by creating an object that dispenses connections and connection Ids on request. The ConnectionPool class maintains a Hastable, using Connection objects as keys and Boolean values as stored values. The Boolean value indicates whether a connection is in use or not. A program calls getConnection() method of the ConnectionPool for getting Connection object it can use; it calls returnConnection() to give the connection back to the pool.
Why should we go for interservlet communication?- Servlets running together in the same server communicate with each other in several ways. The three major reasons to use interservlet communication are: a) Direct servlet manipulation - allows to gain access to the other currently loaded servlets and perform certain tasks (through the ServletContext object) b) Servlet reuse - allows the servlet to reuse the public methods of another servlet. c) Servlet collaboration - requires to communicate with each other by sharing specific information (through method invocation)
Is it possible to call servlet with parameters in the URL?- Yes. You can call a servlet with parameters in the syntax as (?Param1 = xxx || m2 = yyy).
What is Servlet chaining?- Servlet chaining is a technique in which two or more servlets can cooperate in servicing a single request. In servlet chaining, one servlet’s output is piped to the next servlet’s input. This process continues until the last servlet is reached. Its output is then sent back to the client.
How do servlets handle multiple simultaneous requests?- The server has multiple threads that are available to handle requests. When a request comes in, it is assigned to a thread, which calls a service method (for example: doGet(), doPost() and service()) of the servlet. For this reason, a single servlet object can have its service methods called by many threads at once.
What is the difference between TCP/IP and UDP?- TCP/IP is a two-way communication between the client and the server and it is a reliable and there is a confirmation regarding reaching the message to the destination. It is like a phone call. UDP is a one-way communication only between the client and the server and it is not a reliable and there is no confirmation regarding reaching the message to the destination. It is like a postal mail.
What is Inet address?- Every computer connected to a network has an IP address. An IP address is a number that uniquely identifies each computer on the Net. An IP address is a 32-bit number.
What is Domain Naming Service(DNS)?- It is very difficult to remember a set of numbers(IP address) to connect to the Internet. The Domain Naming Service(DNS) is used to overcome this problem. It maps one particular IP address to a string of characters. For example, www. mascom. com implies com is the domain name reserved for US commercial sites, moscom is the name of the company and www is the name of the specific computer, which is mascom’s server.
What is URL?- URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and it points to resource files on the Internet. URL has four components: http://www. address. com:80/index.html, where http - protocol name, address - IP address or host name, 80 - port number and index.html - file path.
What is RMI and steps involved in developing an RMI object?- Remote Method Invocation (RMI) allows java object that executes on one machine and to invoke the method of a Java object to execute on another machine. The steps involved in developing an RMI object are: a) Define the interfaces b) Implementing these interfaces c) Compile the interfaces and their implementations with the java compiler d) Compile the server implementation with RMI compiler e) Run the RMI registry f) Run the application
What is RMI architecture?- RMI architecture consists of four layers and each layer performs specific functions: a) Application layer - contains the actual object definition. b) Proxy layer - consists of stub and skeleton. c) Remote Reference layer - gets the stream of bytes from the transport layer and sends it to the proxy layer. d) Transportation layer - responsible for handling the actual machine-to-machine communication.
what is UnicastRemoteObject?- All remote objects must extend UnicastRemoteObject, which provides functionality that is needed to make objects available from remote machines.
Explain the methods, rebind() and lookup() in Naming class?- rebind() of the Naming class(found in java. rmi) is used to update the RMI registry on the server machine. Naming. rebind(”AddSever”, AddServerImpl); lookup() of the Naming class accepts one argument, the rmi URL and returns a reference to an object of type AddServerImpl.
What is a Java Bean?- A Java Bean is a software component that has been designed to be reusable in a variety of different environments.
What is a Jar file?- Jar file allows to efficiently deploying a set of classes and their associated resources. The elements in a jar file are compressed, which makes downloading a Jar file much faster than separately downloading several uncompressed files. The package java. util. zip contains classes that read and write jar files.
What is BDK?- BDK, Bean Development Kit is a tool that enables to create, configure and connect a set of set of Beans and it can be used to test Beans without writing a code.
What is JSP?- JSP is a dynamic scripting capability for web pages that allows Java as well as a few special tags to be embedded into a web file (HTML/XML, etc). The suffix traditionally ends with .jsp to indicate to the web server that the file is a JSP files. JSP is a server side technology - you can’t do any client side validation with it. The advantages are: a) The JSP assists in making the HTML more functional. Servlets on the other hand allow outputting of HTML but it is a tedious process. b) It is easy to make a change and then let the JSP capability of the web server you are using deal with compiling it into a servlet and running it.
What are JSP scripting elements?- JSP scripting elements lets to insert Java code into the servlet that will be generated from the current JSP page. There are three forms: a) Expressions of the form <%= expression %> that are evaluated and inserted into the output, b) Scriptlets of the form<% code %>that are inserted into the servlet’s service method, and c) Declarations of the form <%! Code %>that are inserted into the body of the servlet class, outside of any existing methods.
What are JSP Directives?- A JSP directive affects the overall structure of the servlet class. It usually has the following form:<%@ directive attribute=”value” %> However, you can also combine multiple attribute settings for a single directive, as follows:<%@ directive attribute1=”value1″ attribute 2=”value2″ . . . attributeN =”valueN” %> There are two main types of directive: page, which lets to do things like import classes, customize the servlet superclass, and the like; and include, which lets to insert a file into the servlet class at the time the JSP file is translated into a servlet
What are Predefined variables or implicit objects?- To simplify code in JSP expressions and scriptlets, we can use eight automatically defined variables, sometimes called implicit objects. They are request, response, out, session, application, config, pageContext, and page.
What are JSP ACTIONS?- JSP actions use constructs in XML syntax to control the behavior of the servlet engine. You can dynamically insert a file, reuse JavaBeans components, forward the user to another page, or generate HTML for the Java plugin. Available actions include: jsp:include - Include a file at the time the page is requested. jsp:useBean - Find or instantiate a JavaBean. jsp:setProperty - Set the property of a JavaBean. jsp:getProperty - Insert the property of a JavaBean into the output. jsp:forward - Forward the requester to a newpage. Jsp: plugin - Generate browser-specific code that makes an OBJECT or EMBED
How do you pass data (including JavaBeans) to a JSP from a servlet?- (1) Request Lifetime: Using this technique to pass beans, a request dispatcher (using either “include” or forward”) can be called. This bean will disappear after processing this request has been completed. Servlet: request. setAttribute(”theBean”, myBean); RequestDispatcher rd = getServletContext(). getRequestDispatcher(”thepage. jsp”); rd. forward(request, response); JSP PAGE:(2) Session Lifetime: Using this technique to pass beans that are relevant to a particular session (such as in individual user login) over a number of requests. This bean will disappear when the session is invalidated or it times out, or when you remove it. Servlet: HttpSession session = request. getSession(true); session. putValue(”theBean”, myBean); /* You can do a request dispatcher here, or just let the bean be visible on the next request */ JSP Page: 3) Application Lifetime: Using this technique to pass beans that are relevant to all servlets and JSP pages in a particular app, for all users. For example, I use this to make a JDBC connection pool object available to the various servlets and JSP pages in my apps. This bean will disappear when the servlet engine is shut down, or when you remove it. Servlet: GetServletContext(). setAttribute(”theBean”, myBean); JSP PAGE:
How can I set a cookie in JSP?- response. setHeader(”Set-Cookie”, “cookie string”); To give the response-object to a bean, write a method setResponse (HttpServletResponse response) - to the bean, and in jsp-file:<% bean. setResponse (response); %>
How can I delete a cookie with JSP?- Say that I have a cookie called “foo, ” that I set a while ago & I want it to go away. I simply: <% Cookie killCookie = new Cookie(”foo”, null); KillCookie. setPath(”/”); killCookie. setMaxAge(0); response. addCookie(killCookie); %>
How are Servlets and JSP Pages related?- JSP pages are focused around HTML (or XML) with Java codes and JSP tags inside them. When a web server that has JSP support is asked for a JSP page, it checks to see if it has already compiled the page into a servlet. Thus, JSP pages become servlets and are transformed into pure Java and then compiled, loaded into the server and executed.

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Java interview questions and answers

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Java interview questions and answers

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