Q.What is the purpose of garbage collection in Java, and when is it used?

A. The purpose of garbage collection is to identify and discard objects that

are no longer needed by a program so that their resources can be
reclaimed and reused. A Java object is subject to garbage collection when
it becomes unreachable to the program in which it is used.

Q. Describe synchronization in respect to multithreading.

A. With respect to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to

control the access of multiple threads to shared resources. Without
synchonization, it is possible for one thread to modify a shared variable
while another thread is in the process of using or updating same shared
variable. This usually leads to significant errors.

Q. Explain different way of using thread?

A. The thread could be implemented by using runnable interface or by

inheriting from the Thread class. The former is more advantageous, 'cause
when you are going for multiple inheritance..the only interface can help.

Q. What are pass by reference and passby value?

A. Pass By Reference means the passing the address itself rather than
passing the value. Passby Value means passing a copy of the value to be
passed.

Q. What is HashMap and Map?

A. Map is Interface and Hashmap is class that implements that.

Q. Difference between HashMap and HashTable?

A. The HashMap class is roughly equivalent to Hashtable, except that it is

unsynchronized and permits nulls. (HashMap allows null values as key and
value whereas Hashtable doesnt allow). HashMap does not guarantee that
the order of the map will remain constant over time. HashMap is
unsynchronized and Hashtable is synchronized.

Q. Difference between Vector and ArrayList?

A. Vector is synchronized whereas arraylist is not

Q. Difference between Swing and Awt?

A. AWT are heavy-weight componenets. Swings are light-weight

components. Hence swing works faster than AWT.
Q. What is the difference between a constructor and a method?

A. A constructor is a member function of a class that is used to create

objects of that class. It has the same name as the class itself, has no return
type, and is invoked using the new operator.
A method is an ordinary member function of a class. It has its own name, a
return type (which may be void), and is invoked using the dot operator.

Q. What is an Iterator?

A. Some of the collection classes provide traversal of their contents via a

java.util.Iterator interface. This interface allows you to walk through a
collection of objects, operating on each object in turn. Remember when
using Iterators that they contain a snapshot of the collection at the time the
Iterator was obtained; generally it is not advisable to modify the collection
itself while traversing an Iterator.

Q. State the significance of public, private, protected, default modifiers

both singly and in combination and state the effect of package
relationships on declared items qualified by these modifiers.

A. public : Public class is visible in other packages, field is visible

everywhere (class must be public too)
private : Private variables or methods may be used only by an instance of
the same class that declares the variable or method, A private feature may
only be accessed by the class that owns the feature.
protected : Is available to all classes in the same package and also
available to all subclasses of the class that owns the protected feature.This
access is provided even to subclasses that reside in a different package
from the class that owns the protected feature.
default :What you get by default ie, without any access modifier (ie, public
private or protected).It means that it is visible to all within a particular
package.

Q.What is an abstract class?

A. Abstract class must be extended/subclassed (to be useful). It serves as

a template. A class that is abstract may not be instantiated (ie, you may not
call its constructor), abstract class may contain static data. Any class with
an abstract method is automatically abstract itself, and must be declared
as such.
A class may be declared abstract even if it has no abstract methods. This
prevents it from being instantiated.
Q. What is static in java?

A. Static means one per class, not one for each object no matter how many
instance of a class might exist. This means that you can use them without
creating an instance of a class.Static methods are implicitly final, because
overriding is done based on the type of the object, and static methods are
attached to a class, not an object. A static method in a superclass can be
shadowed by another static method in a subclass, as long as the original
method was not declared final. However, you can't override a static method
with a nonstatic method. In other words, you can't change a static method
into an instance method in a subclass.

Q. What is final?

A. A final class can't be extended ie., final class may not be subclassed. A
final method can't be overridden when its class is inherited. You can't
change value of a final variable (is a constant).

Q. What are Checked and UnChecked Exception?

A. A checked exception is some subclass of Exception (or Exception

itself), excluding class RuntimeException and its subclasses.
Making an exception checked forces client programmers to deal with the
possibility that the exception will be thrown. eg, IOException thrown by
java.io.FileInputStream's read() method·
Unchecked exceptions are RuntimeException and any of its subclasses.
Class Error and its subclasses also are unchecked. With an unchecked
exception, however, the compiler doesn't force client programmers either
to catch the
exception or declare it in a throws clause. In fact, client programmers may
not even know that the exception could be thrown. eg,
StringIndexOutOfBoundsException thrown by String's charAt() method·
Checked exceptions must be caught at compile time. Runtime exceptions
do not need to be. Errors often cannot be.

1. What is the difference between an Interface and Abstract class ?

· A class may implement several interfaces where as it can extend only one abstract class.

· An interface cannot provide any code at all, much less default code where as an abstract class can provide
complete code, default code, and/or just stubs that has to be overridden.

· Static final constants can use the interfaces without qualification in classes that implement the interface
where as both static constants and instance variables can use the abstract classes.

· Interface implementation can be added to any existing third part classes where as third party classes must
be rewritten to extend from the abstract classes.
· Interfaces are used to often represent peripheral ability of a class, not central identity where as abstract
class defines core identity of its descendants.

· If various implementations share is method signature then Interface works best where as If the various
implementations are all of a kind and share a common status and behavior, usually an abstract class works
best.

· Interface is slow where as abstract class is fast in performance.

· If you add a new method to an interface, you must track down all implementations of that interface in the
universe and provide them with a concrete implementation of that method where as in case of an abstract
class if you add a new method to an abstract class, you have the option of providing a default
implementation of it. Then all existing code will continue to work without change.

· You can put shared code into an abstract class, where you cannot into an interface.

2. How do you write user-defined exceptions in Java?

· To write user-defined exception in java, you exception class should extend Exception base class have call
the super class methods in your own methods.

3. What is multiple inheritance? Is it supported in java?

· This means one object having multiple parents, which is not truly supported in java but supported in C++.
But overall design of java suggests that we can implement multiple inheritances in java using interfaces.

4. What is difference between an inner class and static inner class?

· A non-static inner class may have object instances that are associated with instances of the class's outer
class. A static inner class does not have any object instances.

5. What is an inner class and what is its advantage?

· Inner class is class, which is defined inside a class as private class and always bears a reference to the
outer class.

o Inner classes can be nested within the body of a method.

· Scope of inner class is the entire enclosing class in which the inner class is nested.

· Inner classes can access attributes and methods in nesting class.

· Each inner class is compiled into a separate. class file labeled:NestingClass$InnerClass.

· Inner classes can contain methods that return handles to inner class instances.

· Major advantage of inner classes is the ability to create adaptor classes that implement an interface.

o Make all inner classes private to ensure hidden implementation.

o Rather than handle classes returning inner classes, they return interfaces.

· Inner classes frequently used with event handling in applets.

 6. What is a transient variable?

o The variable, which cannot be serialized, is known as transient variable.

7. What are wrapped classes?

o Wrapped classes are classes that allow primitive types to be accessed as objects.

8. What is an immutable object and what are its advantages?

· An immutable object is an object and any object it references that does not change after construction. The
object is, therefore, immutable for its lifetime.

· Immutable classes are commonly used to represent strings, colors, and numeric values.

Advantage:

· They guarantee that their state cannot change after construction, they are inherently thread-safe.

9. What are basic rules, which govern creation of immutable classes?

· Declare the class final.

· Declare all data private.

· Provide only getter methods and no setter methods.

· Set all instance data in the constructor.

· Clone mutable objects for which a reference to them is returned.

· Clone mutable objects for which a reference to them is received.

· Implement a deep clone if the default shallow clone is not correct for a properly behaved immutable object.

10. What is a Java package and how is it used?

· A Java package is a naming context for classes and interfaces. A package is used to create a separate
name space for groups of classes and interfaces. Packages are also used to organize related classes and
interfaces into a single API unit and to control accessibility to these classes and interfaces

11. What restrictions are placed on method overriding?

· Overridden methods must have the same name, argument list, and return type.

· The overriding method may not limit the access of the method it overrides.

· The overriding method may not throw any exceptions that may not be thrown by the overridden method.

12. What is use of this and super key words?

· ‘this’ is used for referring to current instance of the object where as ‘super’ is used to refer to variables and
methods of its super class.

· Incase of constructors, this() is used to invoke a constructor of the same class. super() is used to invoke a
superclass constructor.

13. What is the difference between a static and non-static variable?

· 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.

14. What is polymorphism and what are different types of polymorphism?

· One name, different form and there are three forms.

1. Method overloading

2. Method overriding through Interfaces

3. Method overriding through java interfaces.

15. What is the essence of run-time polymorphism behavior?

• With runtime polymorphism based on method overriding, the decision as to which
version of a method will be executed is based on the actual type of object whose
reference is stored in the reference variable, and not on the type of the reference
variable on which the method is invoked.
• The decisions as to which version of the method to invoke cannot be made at
compile time. That decision must be deferred and made at runtime. This is
sometimes referred to as late binding.
16. What is a singleton class and how to implement it? What are the advantages of Singleton
class?
• Singleton classes are created to have only one instance.
• A singleton may be used to represent some unique system.
• It is generally implemented by keeping the constructor private.
• It should have static members and methods.
• The main advantage of singleton class is memory management( Garbage
collection)
17. Why java prohibits use of ‘synchronized’ inside a constructor ?
• because other threads cannot get a reference to the object until construction of
the object completes. This has got a performance overhead.
18. What do you mean by Garbage collection and what are its advantages and
disadvantages?
• The purpose of garbage collection is to identify and discard objects that are no
longer needed by a program so that their resources may be reclaimed.
• An object is eligible for garbage collection when its reference is set to null.
Method variables or local variables are eligible for Garbage collection when they
go out of scope.
 • Garbage Collection cannot be forced explicitly. JVM may do garbage collection if
it is running short of memory.The call System.gc() does NOT force the garbage
collection but only suggests that the JVM may make an effort to do garbage
collection.
• It frees up the heap space and takes care of heap fragmentation.
• It also helps to ensure program integrity as programmers are unable to crash the
JVM by incorrectly freeing the memory accidentally or purposefully.
• The only disadvantage is garbage-collected heap is a performance overhead.
19. What do you mean by conservative garbage collector?
• The garbage collectors that cannot distinguish between genuine object
references and look-alikes.
20. Can an object's finalize () method be invoked while it is reachable?
• An object's finalize() method cannot be invoked by the garbage collector while
the object is still reachable. However, an object's finalize() method may be
invoked by other objects.

1) We all know that linkedHashMap maintains the ordering of elements as they are
inserted. What happens when an already inserted element is reinserted? Will the
ordering change?

Ans)No. Earlier order is maintained.

2) What is weak reference in Java

Ans) A weak reference is one that does not prevent the referenced object from being
garbage collected. You might use them to manage a HashMap to look up a cache of
objects. A weak reference is a reference that does not keep the object it refers to alive. A
weak reference is not counted as a reference in garbage collection. If the object is not
referred to elsewhere as well, it will be garbage collected.

3) What's the difference between the methods sleep() and wait()

Ans) The code sleep(1000); puts thread aside for exactly one second. The code
wait(1000), causes a wait of up to one second. A thread could stop waiting earlier if it
receives the notify() or notifyAll() call. The method wait() is defined in the class Object
and the method sleep() is defined in the class Thread.
4) What will be the output on executing the following code.
public class MyClass {
public static void main (String args[] ) {
int abc[] = new int [5];
System.out.println(abc);
 }
}

• A Error array not initialized

• B5
• C null
• D Print some junk characters

Ans) D

It will print some junk characters to the output. Here it will not give any compile
time or runtime error because we have declared and initialized the array properly.
Event if we are not assigning a value to the array, it will always initialized to its
defaults.

5)What will be the output on executing the following code.

public class MyClass {
public static void main (String args[] ) {
int abc[] = new int [5];
System.out.println(abc[0]);
}
}

• A Error array not initialized

• B5
• C0
• D Print some junk characters

Ans) C. Here it will not give any compile time or runtime error because we have
declared and initialized the array properly. Event if we are not assigning a value to
the array, it will always initialized to its defaults. So the array will be initialized
with values zero.

6)What is a marker interface ?

Ans)An interface that contains no methods. Eg: Serializable, Cloneable,

SingleThreadModel etc. It is used to just mark java classes that support certain capability.

7)What are tag interfaces?

Ans)Tag interface is an alternate name for marker interface.

8)What are the restrictions placed on static method ?

We cannot override static methods. We cannot access any object variables inside static
method. Also the this reference also not available in static methods.

9)What is JVM?

Ans)JVM stands for Java Virtual Machine. It is the run time for java programs. All are
java programs are running inside this JVM only. It converts java byte code to OS specific
commands. In addition to governing the execution of an application's byte codes, the
virtual machine handles related tasks such as managing the system's memory, providing
security against malicious code, and managing multiple threads of program execution.

10)What is JIT?

Ans)JIT stands for Just In Time compiler. It compiles java byte code to native code.

Q. What are triggers? How to invoke a trigger on demand?

A. Triggers are special kind of stored procedures that get executed automatically when an
INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE operation takes place on a table.
Triggers can't be invoked on demand. They get triggered only when an associated action
(INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) happens on the table on which they are defined.

Triggers are generally used to implement business rules, auditing. Triggers can also be
used to extend the referential integrity checks, but wherever possible, use constraints for
this purpose, instead of triggers, as constraints are much faster.

Q. What are cursors? Explain different types of cursors. What are the
disadvantages of cursors? How can you avoid cursors?

A. Cursors allow row-by-row prcessing of the resultsets.

Types of cursors: Static, Dynamic, Forward-only, Keyset-driven. See books online for more
information.

Disadvantages of cursors: Each time you fetch a row from the cursor, it results in a
network roundtrip, where as a normal SELECT query makes only one rowundtrip, however
large the resultset is. Cursors are also costly because they require more resources and
temporary storage (results in more IO operations). Furthere, there are restrictions on the
SELECT statements that can be used with some types of cursors.Most of the times, set
based operations can be used instead of cursors.
Q. What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?

A. Both primary key and unique enforce uniqueness of the column on

which they are defined. But by default primary key creates a clustered
index on the column, where are unique creates a nonclustered index by
default. Another major difference is that, primary key doesn't allow NULLs,
but unique key allows one NULL only.

Q. What is the difference among "dropping a table", "truncating a table"

and "deleting all records" from a table.

A. Dropping : (Table structure + Data are deleted), Invalidates the dependent objects
,Drops the indexes

Truncating: (Data alone deleted), Performs an automatic commit, Faster than delete

Delete : (Data alone deleted), Doesn’t perform automatic commit.

Q. What is GROUP BY?

A. The GROUP BY keywords have been added to SQL because aggregate functions (like
SUM) return the aggregate of all column values every time they are called. Without the
GROUP BY functionality, finding the sum for each individual group of column values was
not possible.

Q. How to get the results of a Query sorted in any order?

A. You can sort the results and return the sorted results to your program
by using ORDER BY keyword thus saving you the pain of carrying out the
sorting yourself. The ORDER BY keyword is used for sorting.

SELECT empname, age, city FROM emptable ORDER BY empname.

Q. How could I get distinct entries from a table?

A. The SELECT statement in conjunction with DISTINCT lets you select a set of distinct
values from a table in a database. The values selected from the database table would of
course depend on the various conditions that are specified in the SQL query. Example
SELECT DISTINCT empname FROM emptable

Q. What is SELECT statement?

A. The SELECT statement lets you select a set of values from a table in a database. The
values selected from the database table would depend on the various conditions that are
specified in the SQL query.

Q. How you will enable front-end validation based on the xml in

validation.xml?
A. The <html:javascript> tag to allow front-end validation based on the xml in
validation.xml. For example the code: <html:javascript formName=\"logonForm\"
dynamicJavascript=\"true\" staticJavascript=\"true\" /> generates the client side java script
for the form \"logonForm\" as defined in the validation.xml file. The <html:javascript> when
added in the jsp file generates the client site validation script.

Q. What is Struts Validator Framework?

A. Struts Framework provides the functionality to validate the form data. It can be use to
validate the data on the users browser as well as on the server side. Struts Framework
emits the java scripts and it can be used validate the form data on the client browser.
Server side validation of form can be accomplished by sub classing your From Bean with
DynaValidatorForm class. The Validator framework was developed by David Winterfeldt as
third-party add-on to Struts. Now the Validator framework is a part of Jakarta Commons
project and it can be used with or without Struts. The Validator framework comes
integrated with the Struts Framework and can be used without doing any extra settings.

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. 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 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 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. Is it necessary that each try block must be followed by a catch block?

A. It is not necessary that each try block must be followed by a catch block.
It should be followed by either a catch block OR a finally block. And
whatever exceptions are likely to be thrown should be declared in the
throws clause of the method.

Q. How does an exception permeate through the code?

A. An unhandled exception moves up the method stack in search of a

matching When an exception is thrown from a code which is wrapped in a
try block followed by one or more catch blocks, a search is made for
matching catch block. If a matching type is found then that block will be
invoked. If a matching type is not found then the exception moves up the
method stack and reaches the caller method. Same procedure is repeated if
the caller method is included in a try catch block. This process continues
until a catch block handling the appropriate type of exception is found. If it
does not find such a block then finally the program terminates.

Q. If my class already extends from some other class what should I do if I

want an instance of my class to be thrown as an exception object?

A. One can not do anytihng in this scenarion. Because Java does not allow
multiple inheritance and does not provide any exception interface as well.

Q. If I want an object of my class to be thrown as an exception object, what

should I do?

A. The class should extend from Exception class. Or you can extend your
class from some more precise exception type also.

Q. How to create custom exceptions?

A. Your class should extend class Exception, or some more specific type thereof.

Q. What is the difference between error and an exception?

A. An error is an irrecoverable condition occurring at runtime. Such as

OutOfMemory error. These JVM errors and you can not repair them at
runtime. While exceptions are conditions that occur because of bad input
etc. e.g. FileNotFoundException will be thrown if the specified file does not
exist. Or a NullPointerException will take place if you try using a null
reference. In most of the cases it is possible to recover from an exception
(probably by giving user a feedback for entering proper values etc.).

Q. Why do we need wrapper classes?

A. It is sometimes easier to deal with primitives as objects. Moreover most

of the collection classes store objects and not primitive data types. And also
the wrapper classes provide many utility methods also. Because of these
resons we need wrapper classes. And since we create instances of these
classes we can store them in any of the collection classes and pass them
around as a collection. Also we can pass them around as method
parameters where a method expects an object.

Q. What is Externalizable interface?

A. Externalizable is an interface which contains two methods readExternal

and writeExternal. These methods give you a control over the serialization
mechanism. Thus if your class implements this interface, you can customize
the serialization process by implementing these methods.
LANGUAGE STUFF
Q.What will be the default values of all the elements of an array defined as
an instance variable?

A. If the array is an array of primitive types, then all the elements of the array will
be initialized to the default value corresponding to that primitive type. e.g. All the
elements of an array of int will be initialized to 0, while that of boolean type will be
initialized to false. Whereas if the array is an array of references (of any type), all the
elements will be initialized to null.

Q. Can I import same package/class twice? Will the JVM load the package
twice at runtime?

A. One can import the same package or same class multiple times. Neither compiler
nor JVM complains abt it. And the JVM will internally load the class only once no
matter how many times you import the same class.

Q. Do I need to import java.lang package any time? Why ?

A. No. It is by default loaded internally by the JVM.

Q. Can I have multiple main methods in the same class?

A. No the program fails to compile. The compiler says that the main method is
already defined in the class.

Q. Can an application have multiple classes having main method?

A. Yes it is possible. While starting the application we mention the class name to be
run. The JVM will look for the Main method only in the class whose name you have
mentioned. Hence there is not conflict amongst the multiple classes having main
method.

Q. What environment variables do I need to set on my machine in order to

be able to run Java programs?

A. CLASSPATH and PATH are the two variables.

Q. How can one prove that the array is not null but empty using one line of
code?

A. Print args.length. It will print 0. That means it is empty. But if it would have been
null then it would have thrown a NullPointerException on attempting to print
args.length.
Q. What if the main method is declared as private?

A. The program compiles properly but at runtime it will give "Main method not
public." message.

Q. What if the static modifier is removed from the signature of the main
method?

A. Program compiles. But at runtime throws an error "NoSuchMethodError".

Q. What if I write static public void instead of public static void?

A. Program compiles and runs properly.

Q. What is final?

A. A final class can't be extended ie., final class may not be subclassed. A final
method can't be overridden when its class is inherited. You can't change value of a
final variable (is a constant).

Q. What if the main method is declared as private?

A. The program compiles properly but at runtime it will give "Main method not
public." message.
Q. What is the default value of an object reference declared as an instance
variable?

A. Null unless we define it explicitly.

Q. What is the difference between declaring a variable and defining a

variable?

A. In declaration we just mention the type of the variable and it's name. We do not
initialize it. But defining means declaration + initialization.
e.g String s; is just a declaration while String s = new String ("abcd"); Or String s =
"abcd"; are both definitions.

Q. Can a top level class be private or protected?

A. No. A top level class can not be private or protected. It can have either "public" or
no modifier. If it does not have a modifier it is supposed to have a default access.If a
top level class is declared as private the compiler will complain that the "modifier
private is not allowed here". This means that a top level class can not be private.
Same is the case with protected.

Q. What type of parameter passing does Java support?

A. In Java the arguments are always passed by value .

Q. Primitive data types are passed by reference or pass by value?

A. Primitive data types are passed by value.

Q. Objects are passed by value or by reference?

A. Java only supports pass by value. With objects, the object reference itself is
passed by value and so both the original reference and parameter copy both refer to
the same object .

Q. What is serialization?

A. Serialization is a mechanism by which you can save the state of an object by

converting it to a byte stream.

Q. How do I serialize an object to a file?

A. The class whose instances are to be serialized should implement an interface

Serializable. Then you pass the instance to the ObjectOutputStream which is
connected to a fileoutputstream. This will save the object to a file.

LANGUAGE STUFF
JSP
Q.What will be the default values of all the elements of an array defined as
an instance variable?

A. If the array is an array of primitive types, then all the elements of the array will
be initialized to the default value corresponding to that primitive type. e.g. All the
elements of an array of int will be initialized to 0, while that of boolean type will be
initialized to false. Whereas if the array is an array of references (of any type), all the
elements will be initialized to null.

Q. Can I import same package/class twice? Will the JVM load the package
twice at runtime?

A. One can import the same package or same class multiple times. Neither compiler
nor JVM complains abt it. And the JVM will internally load the class only once no
matter how many times you import the same class.

Q. Do I need to import java.lang package any time? Why ?

A. No. It is by default loaded internally by the JVM.

Q. Can I have multiple main methods in the same class?

A. No the program fails to compile. The compiler says that the main method is
already defined in the class.

Q. Can an application have multiple classes having main method?

A. Yes it is possible. While starting the application we mention the class name to be
run. The JVM will look for the Main method only in the class whose name you have
mentioned. Hence there is not conflict amongst the multiple classes having main
method.

Q. What environment variables do I need to set on my machine in order to

be able to run Java programs?

A. CLASSPATH and PATH are the two variables.

Q. How can one prove that the array is not null but empty using one line of
code?

A. Print args.length. It will print 0. That means it is empty. But if it would have been
null then it would have thrown a NullPointerException on attempting to print
args.length.
Q. What if the main method is declared as private?

A. The program compiles properly but at runtime it will give "Main method not
public." message.

Q. What if the static modifier is removed from the signature of the main
method?

A. Program compiles. But at runtime throws an error "NoSuchMethodError".

Q. What if I write static public void instead of public static void?

A. Program compiles and runs properly.

Q. What is final?

A. A final class can't be extended ie., final class may not be subclassed. A final
method can't be overridden when its class is inherited. You can't change value of a
final variable (is a constant).

Q. What if the main method is declared as private?

A. The program compiles properly but at runtime it will give "Main method not
public." message.

Q. What is the default value of an object reference declared as an instance

variable?

A. Null unless we define it explicitly.

Q. What is the difference between declaring a variable and defining a

variable?

A. In declaration we just mention the type of the variable and it's name. We do not
initialize it. But defining means declaration + initialization.
e.g String s; is just a declaration while String s = new String ("abcd"); Or String s =
"abcd"; are both definitions.

Q. Can a top level class be private or protected?

A. No. A top level class can not be private or protected. It can have either "public" or
no modifier. If it does not have a modifier it is supposed to have a default access.If a
top level class is declared as private the compiler will complain that the "modifier
private is not allowed here". This means that a top level class can not be private.
Same is the case with protected.

Q. What type of parameter passing does Java support?

A. In Java the arguments are always passed by value .

Q. Primitive data types are passed by reference or pass by value?

A. Primitive data types are passed by value.

Q. Objects are passed by value or by reference?

A. Java only supports pass by value. With objects, the object reference itself is
passed by value and so both the original reference and parameter copy both refer to
the same object .

Q. What is serialization?
A. Serialization is a mechanism by which you can save the state of an object by
converting it to a byte stream.

Q. How do I serialize an object to a file?

A. The class whose instances are to be serialized should implement an interface

Serializable. Then you pass the instance to the ObjectOutputStream which is
connected to a fileoutputstream. This will save the object to a file.