Java Interview Question & Answer Set-5

Q:	How are Observer and Observable used?
A:	Objects that subclass the Observable class maintain a list of observers. When an Observable object is updated it invokes the update() method of each of its observers to notify the observers that it has changed state. The Observer interface is implemented by objects that observe Observable objects.

Q:	What is synchronization and why is it important?
A:	With respect to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to shared resources. Without synchronization, it is possible for one thread to modify a shared object while another thread is in the process of using or updating that object's value. This often leads to significant errors.

Q:	How does Java handle integer overflows and underflows?
A:	It uses those low order bytes of the result that can fit into the size of the type allowed by the operation.

Q:	Does garbage collection guarantee that a program will not run out of memory?
A:	Garbage collection does not guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. It is possible for programs to use up memory resources faster than they are garbage collected. It is also possible for programs to create objects that are not subject to garbage collection .

Q:	What is the difference between preemptive scheduling and time slicing?
A:	Under preemptive scheduling, the highest priority task executes until it enters the waiting or dead states or a higher priority task comes into existence. Under time slicing, a task executes for a predefined slice of time and then reenters the pool of ready tasks. The scheduler then determines which task should execute next, based on priority and other factors.

Q:	When a thread is created and started, what is its initial state?
A:	A thread is in the ready state after it has been created and started.

Q:	What is the purpose of finalization?
A:	The purpose of finalization is to give an unreachable object the opportunity to perform any cleanup processing before the object is garbage collected.

Q:	What is the Locale class?
A:	The Locale class is used to tailor program output to the conventions of a particular geographic, political, or cultural region.

Q:	What is the difference between a while statement and a do statement?
A:	A while statement checks at the beginning of a loop to see whether the next loop iteration should occur. A do statement checks at the end of a loop to see whether the next iteration of a loop should occur. The do statement will always execute the body of a loop at least once.

Q:	What is the difference between static and non-static variables?
A:	A static variable is associated with the class as a whole rather than with specific instances of a class. Non-static variables take on unique values with each object instance.

Q:	How are this() and super() used with constructors?
A:	This() is used to invoke a constructor of the same class. super() is used to invoke a superclass constructor.

Q:	What are synchronized methods and synchronized statements?
A:	Synchronized methods are methods that are used to control access to an object. A thread only executes a synchronized method after it has acquired the lock for the method's object or class. Synchronized statements are similar to synchronized methods. A synchronized statement can only be executed after a thread has acquired the lock for the object or class referenced in the synchronized statement.

Q:	What is daemon thread and which method is used to create the daemon thread?
A:	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.

Q:	Can applets communicate with each other?
A:	At this point in time applets may communicate with other applets running in the same virtual machine. If the applets are of the same class, they can communicate via shared static variables. If the applets are of different classes, then each will need a reference to the same class with static variables. In any case the basic idea is to pass the information back and forth through a static variable. An applet can also get references to all other applets on the same page using the getApplets() method of java.applet.AppletContext. Once you get the reference to an applet, you can communicate with it by using its public members. It is conceivable to have applets in different virtual machines that talk to a server somewhere on the Internet and store any data that needs to be serialized there. Then, when another applet needs this data, it could connect to this same server. Implementing this is non-trivial.

Q:	What are the steps in the JDBC connection?
A:	While making a JDBC connection we go through the following steps : Step 1 : Register the database driver by using : Class.forName(\" driver classs for that specific database\" ); Step 2 : Now create a database connection using : Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(url,username,password); Step 3: Now Create a query using : Statement stmt = Connection.Statement(\"select * from TABLE NAME\"); Step 4 : Exceute the query : stmt.exceuteUpdate();

Q:	How does a try statement determine which catch clause should be used to handle an exception?
A:	When an exception is thrown within the body of a try statement, the catch clauses of the try statement are examined in the order in which they appear. The first catch clause that is capable of handling the exceptionis executed. The remaining catch clauses are ignored.

Q:	Can an unreachable object become reachable again?
A:	An unreachable object may become reachable again. This can happen when the object's finalize() method is invoked and the object performs an operation which causes it to become accessible to reachable objects.

Q:	What method must be implemented by all threads?
A:	All tasks must implement the run() method, whether they are a subclass of Thread or implement the Runnable interface.

Q:	What are synchronized methods and synchronized statements?
A:	Synchronized methods are methods that are used to control access to an object. A thread only executes a synchronized method after it has acquired the lock for the method's object or class. Synchronized statements are similar to synchronized methods. A synchronized statement can only be executed after a thread has acquired the lock for the object or class referenced in the synchronized statement.

Q:	What is Externalizable?
A:	Externalizable is an Interface that extends Serializable Interface. And sends data into Streams in Compressed Format. It has two methods, writeExternal(ObjectOuput out) and readExternal(ObjectInput in)

Q:	What modifiers are allowed for methods in an Interface?
A:	Only public and abstract modifiers are allowed for methods in interfaces.

Q:	What are some alternatives to inheritance?
A:	Delegation is an alternative to inheritance. Delegation means that you include an instance of another class as an instance variable, and forward messages to the instance. It is often safer than inheritance because it forces you to think about each message you forward, because the instance is of a known class, rather than a new class, and because it doesn't force you to accept all the methods of the super class: you can provide only the methods that really make sense. On the other hand, it makes you write more code, and it is harder to re-use (because it is not a subclass).

Q:	What does it mean that a method or field is "static"?
A:	Static variables and methods are instantiated only once per class. In other words they are class variables, not instance variables. If you change the value of a static variable in a particular object, the value of that variable changes for all instances of that class. Static methods can be referenced with the name of the class rather than the name of a particular object of the class (though that works too). That's how library methods like System.out.println() work out is a static field in the java.lang.System class.

Q:	What is the difference between preemptive scheduling and time slicing?
A:	Under preemptive scheduling, the highest priority task executes until it enters the waiting or dead states or a higher priority task comes into existence. Under time slicing, a task executes for a predefined slice of time and then reenters the pool of ready tasks. The scheduler then determines which task should execute next, based on priority and other factors.

Q:	What is the catch or declare rule for method declarations?
A:	If a checked exception may be thrown within the body of a method, the method must either catch the exception or declare it in its throws clause.

Q:	Is Empty .java file a valid source file?
A:	Yes, an empty .java file is a perfectly valid source file.

Q:	Can a .java file contain more than one java classes?
A:	Yes, a .java file contain more than one java classes, provided at the most one of them is a public class.

Q:	Is String a primitive data type in Java?
A:	No String is not a primitive data type in Java, even though it is one of the most extensively used object. Strings in Java are instances of String class defined in java.lang package.

Q:	Is main a keyword in Java?
A:	No, main is not a keyword in Java.