Core Java - Interview Questions and Answers for 'Collection' | Search Interview Question

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Q121. What kind of thread is garbage collection thread ?

Core Java

Ans. Daemon thread

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Q122. Do you feel that its useless to define hashCode method for a class ?

Core Java

Ans. Yes its useless if we are not going to use its objects within Hash collection, For example - HashSet , HashMap. HashCode is used internally by these collections for Search.

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Q123. What is memory leak ? How Java helps countering memory leaks compared to C++ ?

Core Java

Ans. Memory Leak is a situation wherein we have a reserved memory location but the program has lost its reference and hence has no way to access it.

Java doesn't have concept of Pointers, Moreover Java has concept of Garbage collection that frees up space in heap that has lost its references.

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Q124. What is the difference between circular queue and priority queue ?

Data Structures

Ans. https://qr.ae/TWK2Ok

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Q125. Difference between concurrentHashMap and HashTable ?

Core Java

Ans. HashTable locks the complete collection to provide synchronization whereas ConcurrentHashMap only locks segments to achieve synchronization and hence better efficient and faster.

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Q126. isnt the use of HashTable and ConcurrentHashMap the same, i.e providing synchronized map collection ?

Core Java

Ans. Yes, they both aim at providing synchronized access to the Map collection. The only difference is in their implementation. ConcurrentHashMap came after HashTable and hence technically more efficient as it doesn't lock the complete map while accessing it.

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Q127. Why don't Java objects have destructors ?

Core Java

Ans. Java manages memory using built-in garbage collector

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Q128. Why do we need Garbage collection ?

Core Java

Ans. Garbage collection mechanism frees up the memory that is no longer needed. In languages like C / C++ the deallocation needs to be done explicitly by the programmer and hence any leniency may result in memory leak. Garbage collection in java ensures that all unused memory is reclaimed and hence there are no memory leaks.Moreover it relieves the programmer from the hassle of carefully releasing all memory.

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Q129. How is garbage collection in Java 8 different from Java 7 ?

Core Java

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Q130. What is the difference between Enumeration and Iterator ?

Core Java

Ans. Enumeration can iterate only legacy collections like Vector , HashTable and Stack whereas Iterator can iterate both legacy and non legacy collections.

Enumeration is less safer than Iterator

Enumeration is fail safe whereas Iterator is fail fast

Iterator allows for removal of element while traversal whereas Enumeration doesn't have remove method.

Enumerations were introduced in Java 1 whereas Iterators were introduced with Java 2

Enumerations have methods like hasMoreElements and nextElement whereas Iterators have methods like hasNext, next and remove

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Q131. What is the trade off between using Collections.synchronizedList() on an ArrayList and a CopyOnWriteArrayList?

Core Java

Ans. Synchronized List locks the whole list to provide synchronization and thread safety during the read or write operation, while, CopyOnWriteArrayList doesn’t lock the whole list during these operations.
The CopyOnWriteArrayList class works according to its name i.e. copy-on-write which performs different actions for reading and write operations. For every write operation (add, set, remove, etc), it makes a new copy of the elements in the list. and for the read operations (get, iterator, listIterator, etc), it works on a different copy. So there is no additional overhead during a read operation and its read operation is faster than Collections.SynchronizedList(). Thus, COWAL is better for reading operation than Synchronized List.

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Q132. How can we destroy an object ?

Core Java

Ans. We cannot explicitly initiate destruction of an object as no destroy method is available in java. Only Garbage collection can destroy an object.

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Q133. When does an object cleaned or destroyed by garbage collection ?

Core Java

Ans. When it is no longer referenced or it looses all references which were earlier pointing to it.

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Q134. What happens when you assign a pre initialized reference some other object ?

Core Java

Ans. Now the reference points to a new object in memory. If that was the only reference for the previous object , it will be marked for garbage collection.

Foe example -

Object obj = new Object();
obj = new Object();

object created in first line will be eligible for garbage collection after line 2 as it looses all it's handlers.

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Q135. How would you explain the statement "Java Programs are collection of objects" ?

Core Java

Ans. Java Programs are collection of objects that communicates with each other to get a task accomplished. To add to those objects, there are common spaces ( static i.e common for objects belonging to a class ) that are used too.

We can visualize objects as departments of an organization in real world. Just like Task gets initiated in one department and then files are moved across different departments to get work done. In a similar fashion, a task is initiated in one object ( having main method ) and then information ( through POJOs / DTOs ) is moved across objects to accomplish a task.

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Q136. Why iterators of an array list are fail fast ?

Core Java

Ans. Because it's access isn't synchronized and hence access / modification by multiple threads may lead to inconsistent state.

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Q137. What problem we could have with ArrayList which aren't possible with Vectors ?

Core Java

Ans. ArrayLists aren't synchronized and hence doesn't allow synchronized access. As multiple threads can access an arraylist in parallel, it may result in an inconsistent state.

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Q138. What is the quickest way to find count of duplicate elements in an arraylist, without using iteration or loops ?

Core Java

Ans. We can copy the elements to a Set and then find the difference of count between ArrayList and Set. As Set don't allow duplicates , they will be removed in the set.

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Q139. In Java, would you like to see an explicit destructor?

Core Java

Ans. Yes , a gc method to explicitly call garbage collection immediately on the object. It will provide better flexibility over application that require optimal usage of memory.

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Q140. What does the following initialization mean ?

ArrayList<LinkedList> traversalPaths = new ArrayList<LinkedList>();

What could be the use of such a collection.

Core Java

Ans. Initialize an ArrayList that will hold LinkedLists i.e every element of the arraylist will be a linked list.

Such collection could be used in algorithms that require first random access and then sequential traversal. For example - Storing traversal paths for a graph wherein we can start from any vertex. Implementing dictionary with each arraylist element holding staring with character and then linked list holding duplicate words.

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Q141. Can we use primitive types with Collection classes ?

Core Java

Ans. No, As collection classes involve use of Generics, they cannot accept primitive types.

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Q142. Which objects are eligible for garbage collection ?

Core Java

Ans. Objects that have lost their reference i.e. they cannot be accessed/used by the program anymore.

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Q143. Which Data structure can be used for creating Queue ?

Data Structure

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Q144. What is a BlockingQueue ?

Core Java

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Q145. Which immutable classes have you worked with ? Can you name some immutable Collections ? How to make an immutable collection ?

Core Java

Ans. string and wrapper class objects

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Q146. Which of the two - Arrays or LinkedList - is a better data structure for implementing Queue ? and Why ?

Data Structure

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Q147. What is collection framework in Java ?

Core Java

Ans. The Java collections framework (JCF) is a set of classes and interfaces that implement commonly reusable collection data structures. Although referred to as a framework, it works in a manner of a library. The JCF provides both interfaces that define various collections and classes that implement them.

Sample Code for Map

Sample Code for HashMap

Sample Code for Treemap

Sample Code for set

Sample Code for hashset

Sample Code for treeset

Sample Code for list

Sample Code for arraylist

Sample Code for linkedlist

Sample Code for queue

Sample Code for priorityqueue

Sample Code for concurrenthashmap

Sample Code for vector

Sample Code for stack

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Q148. When do you use a Vector?

Core Java

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Q149. Can we modify a list while iterating it ?

Core Java

Ans. No,we cannot.I t will give concurrentModificationExceptin error. It can be resolved by using ConcurrentClasses like ConcurrentHashMap,CopyOnWriteArrayList,BlockingQueue etc which are fail-safe and wont give exception.

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Q150. Which are the thread safe / synchronized / concurrent classes in java collections ?

Core Java

Ans. Stack
Properties
Vector
BlockingQueue
ConcurrentMap
ConcurrentNavigableMap

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