TestLeaf

Core Java Interview

Questions

TestLeaf

TestLeaf

Core Java Interview Questions

1. What is immutability in java?

Immutability means - once created, the objects state cannot be changed; an object which
state is guaranteed to stay identical over its entire lifetime. Immutable objects are
particularly useful in concurrent applications. Since they cannot change state, they
cannot be corrupted by thread interference or observed in an inconsistent state.

2. Difference between Hashmap and Hashtable?

Features

HashMap

HashTable

non-synchronized

synchronized

Thread-safe

Allow Null

Faster

Slower in relative

Synchronization

Speed on Single Thread

3. Difference between Method Overloading and Overriding?

Features

Overloading

Overriding

Meaning

Same method name, return type

Same method signature in child

but with different

overrides the parent class

argument(s)
When it occurs?
Why?

During compile

@ Runtime

Increase the readability of

Customized implementation of

the program.

the method that is already

provided by its super class.

Where?

Within a class

2 classes that have IS-A

relationship

Return type

Same

Can be different

4. Difference between interface and abstract class?

Features

Interface

Abstract Class

Meaning

Interfaces are rules (Rules

Abstract declarations are like

because you must give an

rules to be followed and

implementation to them and

concrete implementations are

that you can't ignore or

like guidelines (You can use

avoid, so that are imposed

that as it is or you can

like rules) which works as a

ignore it by overriding and

common understanding document

giving your own choice

among the various teams.

implementation to it).

implement several interfaces.

extend only one abstract class

instance variables

Cannot have

Can have

Constructor

Cannot have

Can have

Slower in relative

Faster

Relationship

Speed

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Core Java Interview Questions

5. Difference between List and ArrayList?
Features
What it is?

List

ArrayList

interface

implementation of List
interface

Length

fixed length data structure

Dynamic (can resize)

Stores

both primitives and Objects

not store primitives in

in Java

ArrayList

6. Difference between int and Integer?

Features
What it is?

int

Integer

Primitive data type

A class with a single field of

type int

Example

int count = 2;

Integer count = 2;
which is interpreted as
Integer count =
Integer.valueOf(2);

7. Difference between Set and List?

Features
What it is?
Example

Set

List

Collection with no duplicates

ordered Collection and can

and unordered

allow duplicates

getWindowHandles() returns

findElements() returns ordered

collection (List)

unique unordered collection

(Set)
Null

Only one Null allowed

Multi Null allowed (as

duplicated allowed)

8. What is the use of Super Keyword?

If your method overrides one of its superclass's methods, you can invoke the overridden
method through the use of the keyword super.
You can also use super to refer to a hidden field (although hiding fields is
discouraged)

9. Difference between Vector and ArrayList?

Features
Synchronization
Thread-safe
Speed
Capacity

Vector

ArrayList

synchronized

non-synchronized

Slower in relative

Faster

grow by half of its size when

doubles the size of itself by

resized

default when grows

TestLeaf

Core Java Interview Questions

10. What will happen if you call return statement or System.exit on try or
catch finally block?
Finally block will execute even if you put return statement in try block or catch block
but finally block won't run if you call System.exit form try or catch.

11.

Can you override private or static method in Java?

You cannot override private or static method in Java, if you create similar method with
same return type and same method arguments that's called method hiding.

12.

Can you override private or static method in Java?

You cannot override private or static method in Java, if you create similar method with
same return type and same method arguments that's called method hiding.

13.

Difference between static and final?

Features

static

final

Scope

Variables, methods

Variables, methods, classes

How it works?

do not require an

final variable cannot be reassigned.

object

final method cannot be overridden.

final class cannot be inherited.

Speed

14.

Slower in relative

Faster

What is Composition in Java?

Creating an object of other class in your class and calling other class variables and
methods is known as composition (known as has-a relationship as one class "has a"
object of other class).

15.

How to fetch only specific character from a given string like only numbers,
special characters etc.?
This can be done either of the given ways:
a) Use Regular Expressions with predefined character classes. For example, here are
the pattern API predefinitions in Java:
Construct

Description

Any character (may or may not match line terminators)

\d

A digit: [0-9]

\D

A non-digit: [^0-9]

\s

A whitespace character: [ \t\n\x0B\f\r]

\S

A non-whitespace character: [^\s]

\w

A word character: [a-zA-Z_0-9]

\W

A non-word character: [^\w]

So, if you wish to have only numbers, then use this code
str.replaceAll("\\D+",""); // this will delete the non-digits

TestLeaf

Core Java Interview Questions

b) Use ASCII characters to find and remove the unexpected values from the given
string. For example, the ascii values for 0 to 9 is 47 to 58. In that case, use
the following code, to delete others
final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(input.length())
for(int i = 0; i < input.length(); i++){
final char c = input.charAt(i);
if(c > 47 && c < 58){
sb.append(c);
}
}
return sb.toString();

16.

How to fetch only specific character from a given string like only numbers,
special characters etc.?
Features

String

StringBuffer

StringBuilder

Mutable

Immutable

mutable

mutable

Once created, cannot

can change the value of

can change the value of

Example

change

the object

the object

String SA = new String

("Test");
String SB = SA;
SA = SA+"Leaf";

StringBuffer SA = new
StringBuffer("Test");
StringBuffer SB = SA;
SA = SA.append("Leaf");

StringBuilder SA = new
StringBuilder ("Test");
StringBuilder SB = SA;
SA = SA.append("Leaf");

System.out.println(SA);

System.out.println(SA);

System.out.println(SA);

System.out.println(SB);

System.out.println(SB);

System.out.println(SB);

// SA will print as

// Both SA and SB will

// Both SA and SB will

TestLeaf; whereas SB

print as - TestLeaf

print as - TestLeaf

will print - Test

Safety

Thread-Safe

Thread-Safe

Not Thread-Safe

Cannot be used by two

Synchronized

Not Synchronized

Very slow

Fast

threads simultaneously.
Performance

17.

Fast

How to get the decimal part of a float or double?

You can use Math class floor method or in case of double - convert to int to deduct
from the original value;
double d = 12345.4566; // option 1
double v = d - (int) d;
System.out.println(v);
Float f = 12345.4566f; // option 2
v = f - Math.floor(f);
System.out.println(v);
String s = ""+12345.4566; // option 3 (if you need just the decimals)
int index = s.indexOf('.');
System.out.println(Integer.parseInt(s.substring(index + 1)));

TestLeaf

Core Java Interview Questions

18.

Difference between extends and implements?

Features
When?

extends

implements

extends for extending a

implements for implementing an

class.

interface

Inheritance between concrete

Inheritance between classes

(non-abstract) and abstract

(including abstract classes)

classes use extends keyword.

and interfaces, use implements

keyword.

How many?

Extend only one class to

After extends there should be

another, any number of classes

only one class (either

in a ladder; and this is known

concrete or abstract) and

as multilevel inheritance.

after implements there can be

You cannot extend multiple

any number of interfaces.

classes to one class and this

is known as multiple
inheritances which Java does
not support through classes.

19.

What is this keyword in Java?

Within an instance method or a constructor, this is a reference to the current
object the object whose method or constructor is being called. You can refer to
any member of the current object from within an instance method or a constructor by
using this.
public class Point {
public int x = 0;
public int y = 0;
//constructor
public Point(int x, int y) {
this.x = x; // this points to the local variable and not argument variable
this.y = y;
}
}

20.

How to make the given string as palindrome?

This program assist to know given string is a palindrome; same can be used for
numbers as well
int length = str.length(); // find the length
for ( int i = length - 1; i >= 0; i-- ) // reverse the string
String reverse = reverse + original.charAt(i);
if (str.equals(reverse)) // check if reversed matches the original
System.out.println("Entered string is a palindrome.");
else
System.out.println("Entered string is not a palindrome.");

TestLeaf

Core Java Interview Questions

21.

How to remove duplicate values from a given integer array?

This program assist to know given string is a palindrome; same can be used for
numbers as well
return new HashSet<Integer>(Arrays.asList(arr)).toArray(new Integer[0]);
// asList -> Returns a fixed-size list backed by the specified array
// toArray-> Returns an array containing all of the elements in this list in
proper sequence (from first to last element)
// HashSet-> implements the Set interface, backed by a hash table (so it has
only unique values)

22.

Explain how thread lifecycle works?

23.

Difference between wait and sleep?

Features

Wait

sleep

Class

java.lang.Object

java.lang.Thread

when Thread is waiting

Releases the lock

Holds the lock

Method Type

Instance

Static

Can awake?

Yes using notify() or

No, cannot

notifyAll() method
Condition based?

24.

Yes

No

What is the difference between JDK and JVM?

Java Development Kit (JDK) is for development purpose and JVM is a part of it to
execute the java programs.

JDK provides all the tools, executables and binaries required to compile, debug and
execute a Java Program. The execution part is handled by JVM to provide machine
independence.

Core Java Interview Questions

25.

TestLeaf

What is the difference between JVM and JRE?

Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is the implementation of JVM. JRE consists of JVM and
java binaries and other classes to execute any program successfully. JRE doesnt
contain any development tools like java compiler, debugger etc. If you want to
execute any java program, you should have JRE installed.

26.

Which class is the superclass of all classes?

java.lang.Object is the root class for all the java classes and we dont need to
extend it.

27.

Why Java doesnt support multiple inheritance?

Java doesnt support multiple inheritance in classes because of Diamond Problem.
However multiple inheritance is supported in interfaces. An interface can extend
multiple interfaces because they just declare the methods and implementation will be
present in the implementing class. So there is no issue of diamond problem with
interfaces.

28.

Why Java is not pure Object Oriented language?

Java is not said to be pure object oriented because it support primitive types such
as int, byte, short, long etc. I believe it brings simplicity to the language while
writing our code. Obviously java could have wrapper objects for the primitive types
but just for the representation, they would not have provided any benefit.

As we know, for all the primitive types we have wrapper classes such as Integer,
Long etc that provides some additional methods.

29.

What is difference between path and classpath variables?

PATH is an environment variable used by operating system to locate the executables.
Thats why when we install Java or want any executable to be found by OS, we need to
add the directory location in the PATH variable.

Classpath is specific to java and used by java executables to locate class files. We
can provide the classpath location while running java application and it can be a
directory, ZIP files, JAR files etc.

Core Java Interview Questions

30.

TestLeaf

What is the importance of main method in Java?

main() method is the entry point of any standalone java application. The syntax of
main method ispublic static void main(String args[]).
main method is public and static so that java can access it without initializing the
class. The input parameter is an array of String through which we can pass runtime
arguments to the java program.

31.

Can we overload main method?

Yes, we can have multiple methods with name main in a single class. However if we
run the class, java runtime environment will look for main method with syntax
as public static void main(String args[]).

32.

Can we have multiple public classes in a java source file?

We cant have more than one public class in a single java source file. A single
source file can have multiple classes that are not public.

33.

What is Java Package and which package is imported by default?

Java package is the mechanism to organize the java classes by grouping them. The
grouping logic can be based on functionality or modules based. A java class fully
classified name contains package and class name. For example, java.lang.Object is
the fully classified name of Object class that is part ofjava.lang package.
java.lang package is imported by default and we dont need to import any class from
this package explicitly.

34.

What are access modifiers?

Java provides access control through public, private and protected access modifier
keywords. When none of these are used, its called default access modifier.
A java class can only have public or default access modifier.

35.

What is finally and finalize in java?

finally block is used with try-catch to put the code that you want to get executed
always, even if any exception is thrown by the try-catch block. finally block is
mostly used to release resources created in the try block.

finalize() is a special method in Object class that we can override in our classes.
This method gets called by garbage collector when the object is getting garbage
collected. This method is usually overridden to release system resources when object
is garbage collected.

Core Java Interview Questions

36.

TestLeaf

What is inner class in java?

We can define a class inside a class and they are called nested classes. Any nonstatic nested class is known as inner class. Inner classes are associated with the
object of the class and they can access all the variables and methods of the outer
class. Since inner classes are associated with instance, we cant have any static
variables in them. We can have local inner class or anonymous inner class inside a
class.

37.

What is anonymous inner class?

A local inner class without name is known as anonymous inner class. An anonymous
class is defined and instantiated in a single statement. Anonymous inner class
always extend a class or implement an interface.

Since an anonymous class has no name, it is not possible to define a constructor for
an anonymous class. Anonymous inner classes are accessible only at the point where
it is defined.

38.

Can we declare a class as static?

We cant declare a top-level class as static however an inner class can be declared
as static. If inner class is declared as static, its called static nested class.
Static nested class is same as any other top-level class and is nested for only
packaging convenience.

39.

What is static import?

If we have to use any static variable or method from other class, usually we import
the class and then use the method/variable with class name.
1 import java.lang.Math;
2
3 //inside class
4 double test = Math.PI * 5;
We can do the same thing by importing the static method or variable only and then
use it in the class as if it belongs to it.
1 import static java.lang.Math.PI;
2
3 //no need to refer the class now
4 double test = PI * 5;
Use of static import can cause confusion, so its better to avoid it. Overuse of
static import can make your program unreadable and unmaintainable.

Core Java Interview Questions

40.

TestLeaf

What is try-with-resources in java?

One of the Java 7 features is try-with-resources statement for automatic resource
management. Before Java 7, there was no auto resource management and we should
explicitly close the resource. Usually, it was done in the finally block of a trycatch statement. This approach used to cause memory leaks when we forgot to close
the resource.

41.

What is multi-catch block in java?

Java 7 one of the improvement was multi-catch block where we can catch multiple
exceptions in a single catch block. This makes are code shorter and cleaner when
every catch block has similar code.

If a catch block handles multiple exception, you can separate them using a pipe (|)
and in this case exception parameter (ex) is final, so you cant change it.

42.

What is an interface?
Interfaces are core part of java programming language and used a lot not only in JDK
but also java design patterns, most of the frameworks and tools. Interfaces provide
a way to achieve abstraction in java and used to define the contract for the
subclasses to implement.
Interfaces are good for starting point to define Type and create top level hierarchy
in our code. Since a java class can implements multiple interfaces, its better to
use interfaces as super class in most of the cases.

43.

What is an abstract class?

Abstract classes are used in java to create a class with some default method
implementation for subclasses. An abstract class can have abstract method without
body and it can have methods with implementation also.
abstract keyword is used to create a abstract class. Abstract classes cant be
instantiated and mostly used to provide base for sub-classes to extend and implement
the abstract methods and override or use the implemented methods in abstract class.

44.

Can an interface implement or extend another interface?

Interfaces dont implement another interface, they extend it. Since interfaces cant
have method implementations, there is no issue of diamond problem. Thats why we
have multiple inheritance in interfaces i.e an interface can extend multiple
interfaces.

Core Java Interview Questions

45.

TestLeaf

What is Marker interface?

A marker interface is an empty interface without any method but used to force some
functionality in implementing classes by Java. Some of the well known marker
interfaces are Serializable and Cloneable.

46.

What is static block?

Java static block is the group of statements that gets executed when the class is
loaded into memory by Java ClassLoader. It is used to initialize static variables of
the class. Mostly its used to create static resources when class is loaded.

47.

What are Wrapper classes?

Java wrapper classes are the Object representation of eight primitive types in java.
All the wrapper classes in java are immutable and final. Java 5 autoboxing and
unboxing allows easy conversion between primitive types and their corresponding
wrapper classes.

48.

What is Enum in Java?

Enum was introduced in Java 1.5 as a new type whose fields consist of fixed set of
constants. For example, in Java we can create Direction as enum with fixed fields as
EAST, WEST, NORTH, SOUTH. Enum constants are implicitly static and final.

49.

What is Java Annotations?

Java Annotations provide information about the code and they have no direct effect
on the code they annotate. Annotations are introduced in Java 5. Annotation is
metadata about the program embedded in the program itself. It can be parsed by the
annotation parsing tool or by compiler. We can also specify annotation availability
to either compile time only or till runtime also. Java Built-in annotations are
@Override, @Deprecated and @SuppressWarnings.

50.

What is Java Reflection API? Why its so important to have?

Java Reflection API provides ability to inspect and modify the runtime behavior of
java application. We can inspect a java class, interface, enum and get their methods
and field details. Reflection API is an advanced topic and we should avoid it in
normal programming. Reflection API usage can break the design pattern such as
Singleton pattern by invoking the private constructor i.e violating the rules of
access modifiers.

Core Java Interview Questions

51.

TestLeaf

What is the benefit of Composition over Inheritance?

One of the best practices of java programming is to favor composition over
inheritance. Some of the possible reasons are:

Any change in the superclass might affect subclass even though we might not

be using the superclass methods. For example, if we have a method test() in subclass
and suddenly somebody introduces a method test() in superclass, we will get
compilation errors in subclass. Composition will never face this issue because we
are using only what methods we need.

Inheritance exposes all the super class methods and variables to client and

if we have no control in designing superclass, it can lead to security holes.

Composition allows us to provide restricted access to the methods and hence more
secure.

We can get runtime binding in composition where inheritance binds the classes

at compile time. So composition provides flexibility in invocation of methods.

52.

What is Classloader in Java?

Java Classloader is the program that loads byte code program into memory when we
want to access any class. We can create our own classloader by extending ClassLoader
class and overriding loadClass(String name) method.

53.

What are different types of classloaders?

There are three types of built-in Class Loaders in Java:

D.

Bootstrap Class Loader It loads JDK internal classes, typically loads

rt.jar and other core classes.

E.

Extensions Class Loader It loads classes from the JDK extensions directory,

usually $JAVA_HOME/lib/ext directory.

F.

System Class Loader It loads classes from the current classpath that can be

set while invoking a program using -cp or -classpath command line options.

54.

What is ternary operator in java?

Java ternary operator is the only conditional operator that takes three operands.
Its a one liner replacement for if-then-else statement and used a lot in java
programming. We can use ternary operator if-else conditions or even switch
conditions using nested ternary operators.

Core Java Interview Questions

55.

TestLeaf

How to sort a collection of custom Objects in Java?

We need to implement Comparable interface to support sorting of custom objects in a
collection. Comparable interface has compareTo(T obj) method which is used by
sorting methods and by providing this method implementation, we can provide default
way to sort custom objects collection.
However, if you want to sort based on different criteria, such as sorting Employees
collection based on salary or age, and then we can create Comparator instances and
pass it as sorting methodology.

56.

What is break and continue statement?

We can use break statement to terminate for, while, or do-while loop. We can use
break statement in switch statement to exit the switch case. You can see the example
of break statement at java break. We can use break with label to terminate the
nested loops.
The continue statement skips the current iteration of a for, while or do-while loop.
We can use continue statement with label to skip the current iteration of outermost
loop.

57.

What is default constructor?

No argument constructor of a class is known as default constructor. When we dont
define any constructor for the class, java compiler automatically creates the
default no-args constructor for the class. If there are other constructors defined,
then compiler wont create default constructor for us.

58.

Can we have try without catch block?

Yes, we can have try-finally statement and hence avoiding catch block.

59.

What is Garbage Collection?

Garbage Collection is the process of looking at heap memory, identifying which
objects are in use and which are not, and deleting the unused objects.In Java,
process of deallocating memory is handled automatically by the garbage collector.
We can run the garbage collector with code Runtime.getRuntime().gc() or use utility
method System.gc()

60.

What is instanceof keyword?

We can use instanceof keyword to check if an object belongs to a class or not. We
should avoid its usage as much as possible.

Core Java Interview Questions

61.

TestLeaf

Can we use String with switch case?

One of the Java 7 feature was improvement of switch case of allow Strings. So if you
are using Java 7 or higher version, you can use String in switch-case statements.

62.

What is Serialization and Deserialization?

We can convert a Java object to an Stream that is called Serialization. Once an
object is converted to Stream, it can be saved to file or send over the network or
used in socket connections.
The object should implement Serializable interface and we can use
java.io.ObjectOutputStream to write object to file or to any OutputStream object.
The process of converting stream data created through serialization to Object is
called deserialization.

63.

What is the use of System class?

Java System Class is one of the core classes. One of the easiest way to log
information for debugging is System.out.print() method.
System class is final so that we cant subclass and override its behavior through
inheritance. System class doesnt provide any public constructors, so we cant
instantiate this class and thats why all of its methods are static.
Some of the utility methods of System class are for array copy, get current time,
reading environment variables.

64.

Java is Pass by Value or Pass by Reference?

You know that object variables contain reference to the Objects in heap space. When
you invoke any method, a copy of these variables is passed and gets stored in the
stack memory of the method. Hence it is pass by value.

65.

What is difference between Heap and Stack Memory?

Major difference between Heap and Stack memory are as follows:

Heap memory is used by all the parts of the application whereas stack memory

is used only by one thread of execution.

Whenever an object is created, its always stored in the Heap space and stack

memory contains the reference to it. Stack memory only contains local primitive
variables and reference variables to objects in heap space.

Memory management in stack is done in LIFO manner whereas its more complex

in Heap memory because its used globally.