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

Interview Questions and Answers - Order By Rating

Q31. How can we get an array out of ArrayList ?

Ans. We can get an array out of ArrayList by using toArray() method of an array list.

String a[] = arrayList.toArray();

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Q32. Find the third last element in a linked list ?

Data Structure

Ans. First Find the number of nodes in the linked list and take it as n.then find the data at n-3 element.

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Q33. Write a Program to find the middle element of Linked List ?

Data Structure

^{This question is still unanswered. Can you please provide an answer.}

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Q34. Write program to create a linked list and perform different operations on it.

Algorithm

Ans. import java.util.*;
class LinkedListSolution{
protected LinkedList list;
public LinkedListSolution(){
list = new LinkedList();
}
public Object pop() throws NoSuchElementException{
if(list.isEmpty())
throw new NoSuchElementException();
else
return list.removeFirst();
}
public void push(Object obj){
list.addFirst(obj);
}
public Object peek() throws NoSuchElementException{
if(list.isEmpty())
throw new NoSuchElementException();
else
return list.getFirst();
}
public boolean isEmpty(){
return list.isEmpty();
}
public String toString(){
return list.toString();
}
}
class TestStack{
public static void main(String args[]){
LinkedListSolution s = new LinkedListSolution();
s.push("First");
s.push("Second");
s.push("Third");
System.out.println("Top: " s.peek());
s.push("Fourth");
while(!(s.isEmpty()))
System.out.println(s.pop());
}
}

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Q35. Difference between Array and ArrayList ?

Core Java

Ans. <a href="http://javahungry.blogspot.com/2015/03/difference-between-array-and-arraylist-in-java-example.html" rel="nofollow">http://javahungry.blogspot.com/2015/03/difference-between-array-and-arraylist-in-java-example.html</a>

Sample Code for ArrayList

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Q36. What is the difference between Collections.emptyList() and creating new instance of List using new ?

Core Java

Ans. But Collections.emptyList() returns an Immutable list whereas new arraylist() creates a mutable list.

Advantage of getting an empty list using Collections.emptyList is that it returns a singleton list which can be shared among many references and hence made immutable. This is good fit for situations where we would like to initialize a list to basic minimum empty to avoid null pointer exception.

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Q37. Does an ArrayList allow elements of different types ? If not, Why the following code works List list1 = new ArrayList<>(); list1.add(1); list1.add("1");

Core Java

Ans. With Java 7 or Later. If you don't declare the list to be of specific type , it treats it as list of objects. int 1 is auto boxed to Integer and "1" is String and hence both are objects.

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Q38. What is the difference between List, Set and Map ?

or

What are the different Java Collections Interfaces ?

Core Java

Ans. List - Members are stored in sequence in memory and can be accessed through index.
Set - There is no relevance of sequence and index. Sets doesn't contain duplicates whereas multiset can have duplicates.
Map - Contains Key , Value pairs.

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Q39. Difference between Vector and ArrayList ?

Core Java

Ans. Vectors are synchronized whereas Array lists are not.

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Q40. Example of Observer Design Pattern ?

Ans. Listeners.

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Q41. Will this code give error if i try to add two heterogeneous elements in the arraylist. ? and Why ?

List list1 = new ArrayList<>();
list1.add(5);
list1.add("5");

Ans. If we don't declare the list to be of specific type, it treats it as list of objects.

int 1 is auto boxed to Integer and "1" is String and hence both are objects.

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Q42. What is a Listener ?

Design

Ans. In GUI programming, an object that can be registered to be notified when events of some given type occur. The object is said to listener? for the events.

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Q43. Difference between ArrayList and LinkedList ?

Ans. LinkedList and ArrayList are two different implementations of the List interface. LinkedList implements it with a doubly-linked list. ArrayList implements it with a dynamically resizing array.

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Frequently asked.

Q44. If you are given a choice to use either ArrayList and LinkedList, Which one would you use and Why ?

Core Java

Ans. ArrayList are implemented in memory as arrays and hence allows fast retrieval through indices but are costly if new elements are to be inserted in between other elements. LinkedList allows for constant-time insertions or removals using iterators, but only sequential access of elements

1. Retrieval - If Elements are to be retrieved sequentially only, Linked List is preferred.

2. Insertion - If new Elements are to be inserted in between other elements , Linked List is preferred.

3. Search - Binary Search and other optimized way of searching is not possible on Linked List.

4. Sorting - Initial sorting could be pain but lateral addition of elements in a sorted list is good with linked list.

5. Adding Elements - If sufficiently large elements needs to be added very frequently ,Linked List is preferable as elements don't need consecutive memory location.

Sample Code for ArrayList

Sample Code for LinkedList

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Q45. Is it legal to initialize List like this ?

LinkedList l=new LinkedList();

Ans. No, Generic parameters cannot be primitives.

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Q46. Which of the following syntax are correct ?a. LinkedList<Integer> l=new LinkedList<int>();b. List<Integer> l=new LinkedList<int>();c. LinkedList<Integer> l=new LinkedList<Integer>();d. List<Integer> l = new LinkedList<Integer>();

Core Java

Ans. All are correct.

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Q47. What is the difference between ArrayList and LinkedList ?

Core Java

Ans. Underlying data structure for ArrayList is Array whereas LinkedList is the linked list and hence have following differences -

1. ArrayList needs continuous memory locations and hence need to be moved to a bigger space if new elements are to be added to a filled array which is not required for LinkedList.

2. Removal and Insertion at specific place in ArrayList requires moving all elements and hence leads to O(n) insertions and removal whereas its constant O(1) for LinkedList.

3. Random access using index in ArrayList is faster than LinkedList which requires traversing the complete list through references.

4. Though Linear Search takes Similar Time for both, Binary Search using LinkedList requires creating new Model called Binary Search Tree which is slower but offers constant time insertion and deletion.

5. For a set of integers you want to sort using quicksort, it's probably faster to use an array; for a set of large structures you want to sort using selection sort, a linked list will be faster.

Sample Code for ArrayList

Sample Code for LinkedList

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Q48. What is CopyOnWriteArrayList ?

Ans. Its a type of ArrayList in which all Write operations , i.e add and set are performed by creating a new copy. This array never changes during the lifetime of the iterator, so it never throws ConcurrentModificationException

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Q49. What are the advantages and disadvantages of CopyOnWriteArrayList ?

Core Java

Ans. This collections class has been implemented in such a manner that it can never throw ConcurrentModificationException. As it performs update and write operations by creating a new copy of ArrayList, It's slower compared to ArrayList.

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Q50. Name few classes that implement List interface ?

Ans. http://www.buggybread.com/2015/02/java-collections-classes-that-implement_35.html

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Q51. What will the following code result ?

List> intList = new ArrayList>();

intList.add(Optional.empty());
intList.add(Optional.of(2));
intList.add(Optional.of(3));
intList.add(Optional.of(4));

System.out.println(intList.get(null));

Ans. Compile time error at last line as the get method expect argument of type native int.

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Q52. What will the following code result ? Will it compile ?

List> intList = new ArrayList>();

intList.add(Optional.empty());
intList.add(Optional.of(2));
intList.add(Optional.of(3));
intList.add(Optional.of(4));

System.out.println(intList.get((Integer)null));

Ans. Yes but the last line will throw NullPointerException upon execution.

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Q53. How to determine if the linked list has a cycle in it ?

Ans. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/494830/how-to-determine-if-a-linked-list-has-a-cycle-using-only-two-memory-locations

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Q54. Can we add more elements to an array list that has been marked as final ?

Ans. Yes, the array list can hold more elements. Final only puts the restriction that the array list reference cannot hold any other array list.

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Q55. What will be the output of exceuting main method ?

public static void main(String[] args){
      List list = new ArrayList();
      list.add(1);
      list.add(2);
      list.add(3);
      System.out.println(list);
   }

Core Java

a. 1,2,3

b. Order cannot be determined

c. compilation error

d. 3,2,1

Ans.a. 1,2,3

Q56. What will be the output of this code

ArrayList list = new LinkedList();
list.add(3);
list.add(2);
list.add(1);
System.out.println(list);

Core Java

a. 1,2,3

b. 3,2,1

c. Order cannot be determined

d. Compilation Error

Ans.d. Compilation Error

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