Linux admin interview questions
How do you take a single line of input from the user in a shell script?
Write a script to convert all DOS style backslashes to UNIX style slashes in a list of files.
Write a regular expression (or sed script) to replace all occurrences of the letter ‘f’, followed by any number of characters, followed by the letter ‘a’, followed by one or more numeric characters, followed by the letter ‘n’, and replace what’s found with the string “UNIX”.
Write a script to list all the differences between two directories.
Write a program in any language you choose, to reverse a file.
What are the fields of the password file?
What does a plus at the beginning of a line in the password file signify?
Using the man pages, find the correct ioctl to send console output to an arbitrary pty.
What is an MX record?
What is the prom command on a Sun that shows the SCSI devices?
What is the factory default SCSI target for /dev/sd0?
Where is that value controlled?
What happens to a child process that dies and has no parent process to wait for it and what’s bad about this?
What’s wrong with sendmail? What would you fix?
What command do you run to check file system consistency?
What’s wrong with running shutdown on a network?
What can be wrong with setuid scripts?
What value does spawn return?
Write a script to send mail from three other machines on the network to root at the machine you’re on. Use a ‘here doc’, but include in the mail message the name of the machine the mail is sent from and the disk utilization statistics on each machine?
Why can’t root just cd to someone’s home directory and run a program called a.out sitting there by typing “a.out”, and why is this good?
What is the difference between UDP and TCP?
What is DNS?
What does nslookup do?
How do you create a swapfile?
How would you check the route table on a workstation/server?
How do you find which ypmaster you are bound to?
How do you fix a problem where a printer will cutoff anything over 1MB?
What is the largest file system size in solaris? SunOS?
What are the different RAID levels?
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Interview questions for Linux admin
Advantages/disadvantages of script vs compiled program.
Name a replacement for PHP/Perl/MySQL/Linux/Apache and show main differences.
Why have you choosen such a combination of products?
Differences between two last MySQL versions. Which one would you choose and when/why?
Main differences between Apache 1.x and 2.x. Why is 2.x not so popular? Which one would you choose and when/why?
Which Linux distros do you have experience with?
Which distro you prefer? Why?
Which tool would you use to update Debian / Slackware / RedHat / Mandrake / SuSE ?
You’re asked to write an Apache module. What would you do?
Which tool do you prefer for Apache log reports?
Your portfolio. (even a PHP guest book may work well)
What does ‘route’ command do?
Differences between ipchains and iptables.
What’s eth0, ppp0, wlan0, ttyS0, etc.
What are different directories in / for?
Partitioning scheme for new webserver. Why?
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Unix/Linux programming interview questions
Question 1: What is the major advantage of a hash table? (Asked by Silicon Magic Corp. people)
Answer: The major advantage of a hash table is its speed. Because the hash function is to take a range of key values and transform them into index values in such a way that the key values are distributed randomly across all the indices of a hash table.
Question 2: What are the techniques that you use to handle the collisions in hash tables?(Asked by Silicon Magic Corp. people)
Answer: We can use two major techniques to handle the collisions. They are open addressing and separate chaining. In open addressing, data items that hash to a full array cell are placed in another cell in the array. In separate chaining, each array element consist of a linked list. All data items hashing to a given array index are inserted in that list.
Question 3: In Unix OS, what is the file server? (Asked by Silicon Magic Corp. people)
Answer: The file server is a machine that shares its disk storage and files with other machines on the network.
Question 4: What is NFS? What is its job?(Asked by Silicon Magic Corp. people)
Answer: NFS stands for Network File System. NFS enables filesystems physically residing on one computer system to be used by other computers in the network, appearing to users on the remote host as just another local disk.
Question 5: What is CVS? List some useful CVS commands.(Asked by Silicon Magic Corp.people)
Anser: CVS is Concurrent Version System. It is the front end to the RCS revision control system which extends the notion of revision control from a collection of files in a single directory to a hierarchical collection of directories consisting of revision controlled files. These directories and files can be combined together to form a software release.
There are some useful commands that are being used very often. They are
cvs checkout
cvs update
cvs add
cvs remove
cvs commit
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Unix/Linux administration interview questions
What is LILO?
LILO stands for Linux boot loader. It will load the MBR, master boot record, into the memory, and tell the system which partition and hard drive to boot from.
What is the main advantage of creating links to a file instead of copies of the file?
A: The main advantage is not really that it saves disk space (though it does that too) but, rather, that a change of permissions on the file is applied to all the link access points. The link will show permissions of lrwxrwxrwx but that is for the link itself and not the access to the file to which the link points. Thus if you want to change the permissions for a command, such as su, you only have to do it on the original. With copies you have to find all of the copies and change permission on each of the copies.
Write a command to find all of the files which have been accessed within the last 30 days.
find / -type f -atime -30 > December.files
This command will find all the files under root, which is ‘/’, with file type is file. ‘-atime -30′ will give all the files accessed less than 30 days ago. And the output will put into a file call December.files.
What is the most graceful way to get to run level single user mode?
A: The most graceful way is to use the command init s.
If you want to shut everything down before going to single user mode then do init 0 first and from the ok prompt do a boot -s.
What does the following command line produce? Explain each aspect of this line.
$ (date ; ps -ef | awk ‘{print $1}’ | sort | uniq | wc -l ) >> Activity.log
A: First let’s dissect the line: The date gives the date and time as the first command of the line, this is followed by the a list of all running processes in long form with UIDs listed first, this is the ps -ef. These are fed into the awk which filters out all but the UIDs; these UIDs are piped into sort for no discernible reason and then onto uniq (now we see the reason for the sort - uniq only works on sorted data - if the list is A, B, A, then A, B, A will be the output of uniq, but if it’s A, A, B then A, B is the output) which produces only one copy of each UID.
These UIDs are fed into wc -l which counts the lines - in this case the number of distinct UIDs running processes on the system. Finally the results of these two commands, the date and the wc -l, are appended to the file "Activity.log". Now to answer the question as to what this command line produces. This writes the date and time into the file Activity.log together with the number of distinct users who have processes running on the system at that time. If the file already exists, then these items are appended to the file, otherwise the file is created.
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Solaris interview questions
List the files in current directory sorted by size ? - ls -l | grep ^- | sort -nr
List the hidden files in current directory ? - ls -a1 | grep "^\."
Delete blank lines in a file ? - cat sample.txt | grep -v ‘^$’ > new_sample.txt
Search for a sample string in particular files ? - grep .Debug. *.confHere grep uses the string .Debug. to search in all files with extension..conf. under current directory.
Display the last newly appending lines of a file during appendingdata to the same file by some processes ? - tail .f Debug.logHere tailshows the newly appended data into Debug.log by some processes/user.
Display the Disk Usage of file sizes under each directory in currentDirectory ? - du -k * | sort .nr (or) du .k . | sort -nr
Change to a directory, which is having very long name ? - cd CDMA_3X_GEN*Here original directory name is . .CDMA_3X_GENERATION_DATA..
Display the all files recursively with path under current directory ? - find . -depth -print
Set the Display automatically for the current new user ? - export DISPLAY=`eval ‘who am i | cut -d"(" -f2 | cut -d")" -f1′`Here in above command, see single quote, double quote, grave ascent is used. Observe carefully.
Display the processes, which are running under yourusername ? - ps .aef | grep MaheshvjHere, Maheshvj is the username.
List some Hot Keys for bash shell ? - Ctrl+l . Clears the Screen. Ctrl+r . Does a search in previously given commands in shell. Ctrl+u - Clears the typing before the hotkey. Ctrl+a . Places cursor at the beginning of the command at shell. Ctrl+e . Places cursor at the end of the command at shell. Ctrl+d . Kills the shell. Ctrl+z . Places the currently running process into background.
Display the files in the directory by file size ? - ls .ltr | sort .nr .k 5
How to save man pages to a file ? - man
How to know the date & time for . when script is executed ? - Add the following script line in shell script.eval echo "Script is executed at `date`" >> timeinfo.infHere, .timeinfo.inf. contains date & time details ie., when script is executed and history related to execution.
How do you find out drive statistics ? - iostat -E
Display disk usage in Kilobytes ? - du -k
Display top ten largest files/directories ? - du -sk * | sort -nr | head
How much space is used for users in kilobytes ? - quot -af
How to create null file ? - cat /dev/null > filename1
Access common commands quicker ? - ps -ef | grep -i $@
Display the page size of memory ? - pagesize -a
Display Ethernet Address arp table ? - arp -a
Display the no.of active established connections to localhost ? - netstat -a | grep EST
Display the state of interfaces used for TCP/IP traffice ? - netstat -i
Display the parent/child tree of a process ? - ptree
Show the working directory of a process ? - pwdx
Display the processes current open files ? - pfiles
Display the inter-process communication facility status ? - ipcs
Display the top most process utilizing most CPU ? - top .b 1
Alternative for top command ? - prstat -a
Linux network administrator questions
A pretty funny story - someone was offered a test of basic Linux questions for a junior network administrator position, and figured out that the best way to impress the future employer with good answers is to post the list onUbuntuForums. Good idea, right? That’s where all the Linux experts hang out. Unfortunately, that’s where the employer hung out as well:
It didn’t seem to me that I was asking too much for people to use mailing lists, forums, IRC whatever to compile the answers themselves. I actually expected to see some questions show up on forums but I didn’t expect someone to paste the entire thing and expect the forum users to do all the work that would qualify you for an interview. I think at this point you could save us all some time and not turn the answers back in, I already have the information I need on your answers.
Anyway, the list has been made public, so enjoy:
Give an example of set of shell commands that will give you the number of files in a directory
How do you tell what process has a TCP port open in Linux
On a Red Hat Linux Variant how do you control whether a service starts when the system boots
How do you tell the amount of free disk space left on a volume
Give an example of a set of shell commands to tell how many times “bob” has logged on to the system this month
Give an example of a recursively copying a directory from one location to another.
How do you modify the IP and Net mask of a system running a Red Hat Variant of Linux
Give an example of a set of shell commands that will give you the number of “httpd” processes running on a Linux box.
On CentOS or Fedora based system using the package management application, how do you tell what package provided the file “libnss_ldap.so”
What is the difference between VTP client, server, and transparent
What is the maximum length of CAT6
How does one set up a layer two link to share VLANs
How does one implement redundant links at Layer 2
What is the difference between a hub, switch, and a router? What are the security advantages of switch vs. hub?
Show an example of using telnet to learn the headers of an http server.
In what OSI layer does PPP exist
What’s the difference between TCP and UDP
Given a DNS server that has just started (with an empty cache) and host contacting this DNS server (using it’s OS setting) to learn an address for google.com, list the steps the DNS server will take to learn it with IP addresses (each step will have multiple possible IP addresses – you need choose only one per step).
Why are layer 2 loops bad, and what protocol was designed to prevent them
Given a radius server at 10.0.0.2 and a shared key of ‘abc123′ show the IOS commands necessary to authenticate switch users against the radius server, while still allowing the use of local username / password pairs
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Basic programming questions
Design a data structure such that given a stream of numbers, you can find the maximum of the numbers at any point and also all the numbers.
Given an array of 1s and 0s arrange the 1s together and 0s together in a single scan of the array. Optimize the boundary conditions.
Find the common ancestor of two given nodes in a binary tree, how do you exploit the properties of a given BST for the same problem.
You’re given a function getsort(data) that sorts the data given. The function sorts in place and does not use any extra memory. How do you validate the function with respect to 1) it sorts 2) it does not use extra memory
Explain the Traveling Salesman problem? What is an NP-complete problem? What is the Hamiltonian cycle problem?
Find out the least common ancestor in a binary tree.
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Linux command line Q&A
You need to see the last fifteen lines of the files dog, cat and horse. What command should you use?
tail -15 dog cat horse
The tail utility displays the end of a file. The -15 tells tail to display the last fifteen lines of each specified file.
Who owns the data dictionary?
The SYS user owns the data dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are created when the database is created.
You routinely compress old log files. You now need to examine a log from two months ago. In order to view its contents without first having to decompress it, use the _________ utility.
zcat
The zcat utility allows you to examine the contents of a compressed file much the same way that cat displays a file.
You suspect that you have two commands with the same name as the command is not producing the expected results. What command can you use to determine the location of the command being run?
which
The which command searches your path until it finds a command that matches the command you are looking for and displays its full path.
You locate a command in the /bin directory but do not know what it does. What command can you use to determine its purpose.
whatis
The whatis command displays a summary line from the man page for the specified command.
You wish to create a link to the /data directory in bob’s home directory so you issue the command ln /data /home/bob/datalink but the command fails. What option should you use in this command line to be successful.
Use the -F option
In order to create a link to a directory you must use the -F option.
When you issue the command ls -l, the first character of the resulting display represents the file’s ___________.
type
The first character of the permission block designates the type of file that is being displayed.
What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running processes? __________
top
The top utility shows a listing of all running processes that is dynamically updated.
Where is standard output usually directed?
to the screen or display
By default, your shell directs standard output to your screen or display.
You wish to restore the file memo.ben which was backed up in the tarfile MyBackup.tar. What command should you type?
tar xf MyBackup.tar memo.ben
This command uses the x switch to extract a file. Here the file memo.ben will be restored from the tarfile MyBackup.tar.
You need to view the contents of the tarfile called MyBackup.tar. What command would you use?
tar tf MyBackup.tar
The t switch tells tar to display the contents and the f modifier specifies which file to examine.
You want to create a compressed backup of the users’ home directories. What utility should you use?
tar
You can use the z modifier with tar to compress your archive at the same time as creating it.
What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?
syslogd
The syslogd daemon is responsible for tracking system information and saving it to specified log files.
You have a file called phonenos that is almost 4,000 lines long. What text filter can you use to split it into four pieces each 1,000 lines long?
split
The split text filter will divide files into equally sized pieces. The default length of each piece is 1,000 lines.
You would like to temporarily change your command line editor to be vi. What command should you type to change it?
set -o vi
The set command is used to assign environment variables. In this case, you are instructing your shell to assign vi as your command line editor. However, once you log off and log back in you will return to the previously defined command line editor.
What account is created when you install Linux?
root
Whenever you install Linux, only one user account is created. This is the superuser account also known as root.
What command should you use to check the number of files and disk space used and each user’s defined quotas?
repquota
The repquota command is used to get a report on the status of the quotas you have set including the amount of allocated space and amount of used space.
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SQL interview questions
What are two methods of retrieving SQL?
What cursor type do you use to retrieve multiple recordsets?
What is the difference between a "where" clause and a "having" clause? - "Where" is a kind of restiriction statement. You use where clause to restrict all the data from DB.Where clause is using before result retrieving. But Having clause is using after retrieving the data.Having clause is a kind of filtering command.
What is the basic form of a SQL statement to read data out of a table? The basic form to read data out of table is ‘SELECT * FROM table_name; ‘ An answer: ‘SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE xyz= ‘whatever’;’ cannot be called basic form because of WHERE clause.
What structure can you implement for the database to speed up table reads? - Follow the rules of DB tuning we have to: 1] properly use indexes ( different types of indexes) 2] properly locate different DB objects across different tablespaces, files and so on.3] create a special space (tablespace) to locate some of the data with special datatype ( for example CLOB, LOB and …)
What are the tradeoffs with having indexes? - 1. Faster selects, slower updates. 2. Extra storage space to store indexes. Updates are slower because in addition to updating the table you have to update the index.
What is a "join"? - ‘join’ used to connect two or more tables logically with or without common field.
What is "normalization"? "Denormalization"? Why do you sometimes want to denormalize? - Normalizing data means eliminating redundant information from a table and organizing the data so that future changes to the table are easier. Denormalization means allowing redundancy in a table. The main benefit of denormalization is improved performance with simplified data retrieval and manipulation. This is done by reduction in the number of joins needed for data processing.
What is a "constraint"? - A constraint allows you to apply simple referential integrity checks to a table. There are four primary types of constraints that are currently supported by SQL Server: PRIMARY/UNIQUE - enforces uniqueness of a particular table column. DEFAULT - specifies a default value for a column in case an insert operation does not provide one. FOREIGN KEY - validates that every value in a column exists in a column of another table. CHECK - checks that every value stored in a column is in some specified list. Each type of constraint performs a specific type of action. Default is not a constraint. NOT NULL is one more constraint which does not allow values in the specific column to be null. And also it the only constraint which is not a table level constraint.
What types of index data structures can you have? - An index helps to faster search values in tables. The three most commonly used index-types are: - B-Tree: builds a tree of possible values with a list of row IDs that have the leaf value. Needs a lot of space and is the default index type for most databases. - Bitmap: string of bits for each possible value of the column. Each bit string has one bit for each row. Needs only few space and is very fast.(however, domain of value cannot be large, e.g. SEX(m,f); degree(BS,MS,PHD) - Hash: A hashing algorithm is used to assign a set of characters to represent a text string such as a composite of keys or partial keys, and compresses the underlying data. Takes longer to build and is supported by relatively few databases.
What is a "primary key"? - A PRIMARY INDEX or PRIMARY KEY is something which comes mainly from
database theory. From its behavior is almost the same as an UNIQUE INDEX, i.e. there may only be one of each value in this column. If you call such an INDEX PRIMARY instead of UNIQUE, you say something about
your table design, which I am not able to explain in few words. Primary Key is a type of a constraint enforcing uniqueness and data integrity for each row of a table. All columns participating in a primary key constraint must possess the NOT NULL property.
What is a "functional dependency"? How does it relate to database table design? - Functional dependency relates to how one object depends upon the other in the database. for example, procedure/function sp2 may be called by procedure sp1. Then we say that sp1 has functional dependency on sp2.
What is a "trigger"? - Triggers are stored procedures created in order to enforce integrity rules in a database. A trigger is executed every time a data-modification operation occurs (i.e., insert, update or delete). Triggers are executed automatically on occurance of one of the data-modification operations. A trigger is a database object directly associated with a particular table. It fires whenever a specific statement/type of statement is issued against that table. The types of statements are insert,update,delete and query statements. Basically, trigger is a set of SQL statements A trigger is a solution to the restrictions of a constraint. For instance: 1.A database column cannot carry PSEUDO columns as criteria where a trigger can. 2. A database constraint cannot refer old and new values for a row where a trigger can.
Why can a "group by" or "order by" clause be expensive to process? - Processing of "group by" or "order by" clause often requires creation of Temporary tables to process the results of the query. Which depending of the result set can be very expensive.
What is "index covering" of a query? - Index covering means that "Data can be found only using indexes, without touching the tables"
What types of join algorithms can you have?
What is a SQL view? - An output of a query can be stored as a view. View acts like small table which meets our criterion. View is a precomplied SQL query which is used to select data from one or more tables. A view is like a table but it doesn’t physically take any space. View is a good way to present data in a particular format if you use that query quite often. View can also be used to restrict users from accessing the tables directly.
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Java interview questions
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.
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