Outline
SECTION 1 Interview questions and answers on:
Java
Fundamentals
Swing
Applet
Performance and Memory issues
Personal and Behavioral/Situational
Behaving right in an interview
Key Points
SECTION 2 Interview questions and answers on:
Enterprise Java
J2EE Overview
Servlet
JSP
JDBC / JTA
JNDI / LDAP
RMI
EJB
JMS
XML
SQL, Database, and O/R mapping
RUP & UML
Struts
Web and Application servers.
Best practices and performance considerations.
Testing and deployment.
Personal and Behavioral/Situational
Key Points
SECTION 3 Putting it all together section.
How would you go about…?
1. How would you go about documenting your Java/J2EE application?
2. How would you go about designing a Java/J2EE application?
3. How would you go about identifying performance problems and/or memory leaks in your Java
application?
4. How would you go about minimizing memory leaks in your Java/J2EE application?
5. How would you go about improving performance of your Java/J2EE application?
6. How would you go about identifying any potential thread-safety issues in your Java/J2EE
application?
7. How would you go about identifying any potential transactional issues in your Java/J2EE
4
application?
8. How would you go about applying the Object Oriented (OO) design concepts in your Java/J2EE
application?
9. How would you go about applying the UML diagrams in your Java/J2EE project?
10. How would you go about describing the software development processes you are familiar with?
11. How would you go about applying the design patterns in your Java/J2EE application?
12. How would you go about designing a Web application where the business tier is on a separate
machine from the presentation tier. The business tier should talk to 2 different databases and your
design should point out the different design patterns?
13. How would you go about determining the enterprise security requirements for your Java/J2EE
application?
14. How would you go about describing the open source projects like JUnit (unit testing), Ant (build
tool), CVS (version control system) and log4J (logging tool) which are integral part of most
Java/J2EE projects?
15. How would you go about describing Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services?
SECTION 4 Emerging Technologies/Frameworks
Test Driven Development (TDD).
Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP).
Inversion of Control (IoC) (Also known as Dependency Injection).
Annotations or attributes based programming (xdoclet etc).
Spring framework.
Hibernate framework.
EJB 3.0.
JavaServer Faces (JSF) framework.
SECTION 5 Sample interview questions …
Java
Web Components
Enterprise
Design
General
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
RESOURCES
INDEX
5
Table of contents
Outline_________________________________________________________________________________________ 3
Table of contents ________________________________________________________________________________ 5
What this book will do for you? ____________________________________________________________________ 7
Motivation for this book __________________________________________________________________________ 8
Key Areas Index ________________________________________________________________________________ 11
Java – Interview questions & answers _____________________________________________________________ 13
Java – Fundamentals _____________________________________________________________________________________ 14
Java – Swing ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 69
Java – Applet____________________________________________________________________________________________ 76
Java – Performance and Memory issues _____________________________________________________________________ 78
Java – Personal and Behavioral/Situational __________________________________________________________________ 83
Java – Behaving right in an interview________________________________________________________________________ 89
Java – Key Points ________________________________________________________________________________________ 91
Enterprise Java – Interview questions & answers ____________________________________________________ 94
Enterprise - J2EE Overview________________________________________________________________________________ 95
Enterprise - Servlet______________________________________________________________________________________ 108
Enterprise - JSP ________________________________________________________________________________________ 126
Enterprise – JDBC & JTA_________________________________________________________________________________ 145
Enterprise – JNDI & LDAP ________________________________________________________________________________ 155
Enterprise - RMI ________________________________________________________________________________________ 159
Enterprise – EJB 2.x _____________________________________________________________________________________ 163
Enterprise - JMS ________________________________________________________________________________________ 180
Enterprise - XML ________________________________________________________________________________________ 190
Enterprise – SQL, Database, and O/R mapping_______________________________________________________________ 197
Enterprise - RUP & UML__________________________________________________________________________________ 206
Enterprise - Struts_______________________________________________________________________________________ 214
Enterprise - Web and Application servers ___________________________________________________________________ 218
Enterprise - Best practices and performance considerations ___________________________________________________ 222
Enterprise – Logging, testing and deployment _______________________________________________________________ 225
Enterprise – Personal and Behavioral/Situational_____________________________________________________________ 228
Enterprise – Software development process_________________________________________________________________ 230
Enterprise – Key Points __________________________________________________________________________________ 233
How would you go about…?_____________________________________________________________________ 238
Q 01: How would you go about documenting your Java/J2EE application? FAQ________________________________ 239
Q 02: How would you go about designing a Java/J2EE application? FAQ _____________________________________ 240
Q 03: How would you go about identifying performance and/or memory issues in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ_ 243
Q 04: How would you go about minimizing memory leaks in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ __________________ 244
Q 05: How would you go about improving performance in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ_____________________ 244
Q 06: How would you go about identifying any potential thread-safety issues in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ __ 245
Q 07: How would you go about identifying any potential transactional issues in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ __ 246
6
Q 08: How would you go about applying the Object Oriented (OO) design concepts in your Java/J2EE application? FAQ
247
Q 09: How would you go about applying the UML diagrams in your Java/J2EE project? FAQ _____________________249
Q 10: How would you go about describing the software development processes you are familiar with? FAQ ________251
Q 11: How would you go about applying the design patterns in your Java/J2EE application? _____________________253
Q 12: How would you go about designing a Web application where the business tier is on a separate machine from the
presentation tier. The business tier should talk to 2 different databases and your design should point out the different
design patterns? FAQ____________________________________________________________________________________286
Q 13: How would you go about determining the enterprise security requirements for your Java/J2EE application? ___287
Q 14: How would you go about describing the open source projects like JUnit (unit testing), Ant (build tool), CVS
(version control system) and log4J (logging tool) which are integral part of most Java/J2EE projects? ________________292
Q 15: How would you go about describing Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services? FAQ___________299
Emerging Technologies/Frameworks… ____________________________________________________________311
Q 01: What is Test Driven Development (TDD)? FAQ _______________________________________________________312
Q 02: What is the point of Test Driven Development (TDD)? What do you think of TDD?__________________________313
Q 03: What is aspect oriented programming (AOP)? Do you have any experience with AOP? _____________________313
Q 04: What are the differences between OOP and AOP? ____________________________________________________317
Q 05: What are the benefits of AOP?_____________________________________________________________________317
Q 06: What is attribute or annotation oriented programming? FAQ ___________________________________________317
Q 07: What are the pros and cons of annotations over XML based deployment descriptors? FAQ _________________318
Q 08: What is XDoclet? ________________________________________________________________________________319
Q 09: What is inversion of control (IoC) (also known more specifically as dependency injection)? FAQ_____________319
Q 10: What are the different types of dependency injections? FAQ ___________________________________________321
Q 11: What are the benefits of IoC (aka Dependency Injection)? FAQ _________________________________________322
Q 12: What is the difference between a service locator pattern and an inversion of control pattern? _______________323
Q 13: Why dependency injection is more elegant than a JNDI lookup to decouple client and the service?___________323
Q 14: Explain Object-to-Relational (O/R) mapping? ________________________________________________________323
Q 15: Give an overview of hibernate framework? FAQ ______________________________________________________324
Q 16: Explain some of the pitfalls of Hibernate and explain how to avoid them? Give some tips on Hibernate best
practices? FAQ_________________________________________________________________________________________333
Q 17: Give an overview of the Spring framework? What are the benefits of Spring framework? FAQ_______________334
Q 18: How would EJB 3.0 simplify your Java development compared to EJB 1.x, 2.x ? FAQ ______________________337
Q 19: Briefly explain key features of the JavaServer Faces (JSF) framework? __________________________________339
Q 20: How would the JSF framework compare with the Struts framework? How would a Spring MVC framework compare
with Struts framework?___________________________________________________________________________________341
Sample interview questions…____________________________________________________________________344
Java___________________________________________________________________________________________________345
Web components________________________________________________________________________________________345
Enterprise______________________________________________________________________________________________345
Design_________________________________________________________________________________________________347
General ________________________________________________________________________________________________347
GLOSSARY OF TERMS__________________________________________________________________________348
RESOURCES __________________________________________________________________________________350
INDEX ________________________________________________________________________________________352
7
What this book will do for you?
Have you got the time to read 10 or more books and articles to add value prior to the interview? This book has been
written mainly from the perspective of Java/J2EE job seekers and interviewers. There are numerous books and articles
on the market covering specific topics like Java, J2EE, EJB, Design Patterns, ANT, CVS, Multi-Threading, Servlets, JSP,
emerging technologies like AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming), Test Driven Development (TDD), Dependency Injection
Dl (aka IoC – Inversion of Control) etc. But from an interview perspective it is not possible to brush up on all these books
where each book usually has from 300 pages to 600 pages. The basic purpose of this book is to cover all the core
concepts and key areas, which all Java/J2EE developers, designers and architects should be conversant with to perform
well in their current jobs and to launch a successful career by doing well at interviews. The interviewer can also use this
book to make sure that they hire the right candidate depending on their requirements. This book contains a wide range of
topics relating to Java/J2EE development in a concise manner supplemented with diagrams, tables, sample codes and
examples. This book is also appropriately categorized to enable you to choose the area of interest to you.
This book will assist all Java/J2EE practitioners to become better at what they do. Usually it takes years to understand all
the core concepts and key areas when you rely only on your work experience. The best way to fast track this is to read
appropriate technical information and proactively apply these in your work environment. It worked for me and hopefully it
will work for you as well. I was also at one stage undecided whether to name this book “Java/J2EE core concepts and
key areas” or “Java/J2EE Job Interview Companion”. The reason I chose “Java/J2EE Job Interview Companion” is
because the core concepts and key areas discussed in this book helped me to be successful in my interviews, helped me
to survive and succeed at my work regardless what my job (junior developer, senior developer, technical lead, designer,
contractor etc) was and also gave me thumbs up in code reviews. This book also has been set out as a handy reference
guide and a roadmap for building enterprise Java applications.
8
Motivation for this book
I started using Java in 1999 when I was working as a junior developer. During those two years as a permanent employee,
I pro-actively spent many hours studying the core concepts behind Java/J2EE in addition to my hands on practical
experience. Two years later I decided to start contracting. Since I started contracting in 2001, my career had a muchneeded
boost in terms of contract rates, job satisfaction, responsibility etc. I moved from one contract to another with a
view of expanding my skills and increasing my contract rates.
In the last 5 years of contracting, I have worked for 5 different organizations both medium and large on 8 different
projects. For each contract I held, on average I attended 6-8 interviews with different companies. In most cases multiple
job offers were made and consequently I was in a position to negotiate my contract rates and also to choose the job I
liked based on the type of project, type of organization, technology used, etc. I have also sat for around 10 technical tests
and a few preliminary phone interviews.
The success in the interviews did not come easily. I spent hours prior to each set of interviews wading through various
books and articles as a preparation. The motivation for this book was to collate all this information into a single book,
which will save me time prior to my interviews but also can benefit others in their interviews. What is in this book has
helped me to go from just a Java/J2EE job to a career in Java/J2EE in a short time. It has also given me the job
security that ‘I can find a contract/permanent job opportunity even in the difficult job market’.
I am not suggesting that every one should go contracting but by performing well at the interviews you can be in a position
to pick the permanent role you like and also be able to negotiate your salary package. Those of you who are already in
good jobs can impress your team leaders, solution designers and/or architects for a possible promotion by demonstrating
your understanding of the key areas discussed in this book. You can discuss with your senior team members about
performance issues, transactional issues, threading issues (concurrency issues) and memory issues. In most of
my previous contracts I was in a position to impress my team leads and architects by pinpointing some of the critical
performance, memory, transactional and threading issues with the code and subsequently fixing them. Trust me it is not
hard to impress someone if you understand the key areas.
For example:
Struts action classes are not thread-safe (Refer Q113 in Enterprise section).
JSP variable declaration is not thread-safe (Refer Q34 in Enterprise section).
Valuable resources like database connections should be closed properly to avoid any memory and performance
issues (Refer Q45 in Enterprise section).
Throwing an application exception will not rollback the transaction in EJB. (Refer Q77 in Enterprise section).
The other key areas, which are vital to any software development, are a good understanding of some of key design
concepts, design patterns, and a modeling language like UML. These key areas are really worthy of a mention in your
resume and interviews.
For example:
Know how to use inheritance, polymorphism and encapsulation (Refer Q7, Q8, Q9, and Q10 in Java section.).
Why use design patterns? (Refer Q5 in Enterprise section).
Why is UML important? (Refer Q106 in Enterprise section).
If you happen to be in an interview with an organization facing serious issues with regards to their Java application
relating to memory leaks, performance problems or a crashing JVM etc then you are likely to be asked questions on
these topics. Refer Q72 – Q74 in Java section and Q123, Q125 in Enterprise section.
If you happen to be in an interview with an organization which is working on a pilot project using a different development
methodology like agile methodology etc or has just started adopting a newer development process or methodology
then you are likely to be asked questions on this key area.
If the team lead/architect of the organization you are being interviewed for feels that the current team is lacking skills in
the key areas of design concepts and design patterns then you are likely to be asked questions on these key areas.
9
Another good reason why these key areas like transactional issues, design concepts, design patterns etc are vital are
because solution designers, architects, team leads, and/or senior developers are usually responsible for conducting the
technical interviews. These areas are their favorite topics because these are essential to any software development.
Some interviewers request you to write a small program during interview or prior to getting to the interview stage. This is
to ascertain that you can code using object oriented concepts and design patterns. So I have included a coding key area
to illustrate what you need to look for while coding.
Apply OO concepts like inheritance, polymorphism and encapsulation: Refer Q10 in Java section.
Program to interfaces not to implementations: Refer Q12, Q17 in Java section.
Use of relevant design patterns: Refer Q11, Q12 in How would you go about… section.
Use of Java collections API and exceptions correctly: Refer Q16 and Q39 in Java section.
Stay away from hard coding values: Refer Q05 in Java section.
Language
Fundamentals
Design
Concepts Design
Patte rns
SEcurity
Concurrency
Issues
Performance
Issues
Memory
Issues
Scalability
Issues
Specification
Fundamentals
Exception
Handling
Transactional
Issues
Best
Practices
Software
Development
Process
COding
LF DC
DP SF
CI PI
M I SI
SE EH
TI BP
SD
CO
How m any books do I have to read to
understand and put together all these
key areas?
How m any years of experience
should I have to understand all these
key areas?
Will these key areas help me
progress in m y career?
Will these key areas help me cut
quality code?
This book aims to solve the above dilemma.
My dad keeps telling me to find a permanent job (instead of contracting), which in his view provides better job security but
I keep telling him that in my view in Information Technology the job security is achieved only by keeping your knowledge
and skills sharp and up to date. The 8 contract positions I held over the last 5.5 years have given me broader experience
in Java/J2EE and related technologies. It also kept me motivated since there was always something new to learn in each
assignment, and not all companies will appreciate your skills and expertise until you decide to leave. Do the following
statements sound familiar to you when you hand in your resignation or decide not to extend your contract after getting
another job offer? “Can I tempt you to come back? What can I do to keep you here?” etc. You might even think why you
waited so long. The best way to make an impression in any organizations is to understand and proactively apply and
10
resolve the issues relating to the Key Areas discussed in this book. But be a team player, be tactful and don’t be
critical of everything, do not act in a superior way and have a sense of humor.
“Technical skills must be complemented with good business and interpersonal skills.”
Knowledge/understanding of the business.
Ability to communicate and interact effectively with the
business users/customers.
Ability to look at things from the user's perspective as
opposed to only technology perspective.
Ability to persuade/convince business with alternative
solutions.
Ability to communicate effectively with your fellow
developers, immediate and senior management.
Ability to work in a team as well as independently.
Problem solving/analytical skills.
Organizational skills.
Ability to cope with difficult situations like stress due to work
load, deadlines etc and manage or deal with difficult people.
Being a good listener with the right attitude.
You
Development team
Business users/
External customers
Immediate
management
Senior management
Give me an example
of a time when you
set a goal and were
able to achieve it?
Describe a time when you
were faced with a stressful
situation that demonstrated
your coping skills?
Describe a time when you had to
work with others in the organization
to accomplish the organizational
goals?
Give me an example of a time you
motivated others? Or dealt with a
difficult person?
IMPORTANT: Technical skills alone are not sufficient for you to perform well in your interviews and progress in your
career. Your technical skills must be complemented with business skills (i.e. knowledge/understanding of the business,
ability to communicate and interact effectively with the business users/customers, ability to look at things from the users’
perspective as opposed to only from technology perspective, ability to persuade/convince business with alternative
solutions, which can provide a win/win solution from users’ perspective as well as technology perspective), ability to
communicate effectively with your fellow developers, immediate and senior management, ability to work in a team as well
as independently, problem solving/analytical skills, organizational skills, ability to cope with difficult situations like stress
due to work load, deadlines etc and manage or deal with difficult people, being a good listener with the right attitude (It is
sometimes possible to have “I know it all attitude”, when you have strong technical skills. These are discussed in “Java
– Personal” and “Enterprise Java – Personal” sub-sections with examples.
Quick Read guide: It is recommended that you go through all the questions in all the sections (all it takes is to read a
few questions & answers each day) but if you are pressed for time or would like to read it just before an interview then
follow the steps shown below:
-- Read/Browse all questions marked as “FAQ” in all four sections.
-- Read/Browse Key Points in Java and Enterprise Java sections.
11
Key Areas Index
I have categorized the core concepts and issues into 14 key areas as listed below. These key areas are vital for any
good software development. This index will enable you to refer to the questions based on key areas. Also note that each
question has an icon next to it to indicate which key area or areas it belongs to. Additional reading is recommended for
beginners in each of the key areas.
Key Areas
icon
--------------------------------------- Question Numbers ------------------------------------------------
Java section Enterprise Java section How
would you
go
about…?
Emerging
Technologies
/ Frameworks
Language
Fundamentals LF
Q1-Q6, Q12-Q16, Q18-
Q24, Q26-Q33, Q35-
Q38, Q41-Q50, Q53-Q71
- Q10, Q15,
Q17, Q19
Specification
Fundamentals
SF
- Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6, Q7-Q15,
Q17-Q19, Q22, Q26-Q33,
Q35-Q38, Q41, Q42, Q44,
Q46-Q81, Q89-Q93, Q95-
Q97, Q99, 102, Q110,
Q112-Q115, Q118-Q119,
Q121, Q126, Q127, Q128
Q15
Design Concepts
DC
Q1, Q7-Q12, Q15, Q26,
Q22, Q56
Q2, Q3, Q19, Q20, Q21,
Q31, Q45, Q91, Q94, Q98,
Q101, Q106, Q107, Q108,
Q109, Q111
Q02, Q08,
Q09, Q15
Q3 - Q13,
Q13, Q14,
Q16, Q17,
Q18, Q20
Design Patterns
DP
Q12, Q16, Q24, Q36,
Q51, Q52, Q58, Q63,
Q75
Q5, Q5, Q22, Q24, Q25,
Q41, Q83, Q84, Q85, Q86,
Q87, Q88, Q110, Q111,
Q116
Q11, Q12
Q9 - Q13
Transactional
Issues TI
- Q43, Q71, Q72, Q73, Q74,
Q75, Q77, Q78, Q79
Q7
Concurrency Issues
CI
Q15, Q17, Q21, Q34,
Q42, Q46, Q62
Q16, Q34, Q72, Q78,
Q113
Q6
Performance Issues
PI
Q15, Q17,Q20-Q26,
Q46, Q62, Q72
Q10, Q16, Q43, Q45, Q46,
Q72, Q83-Q88, Q93, Q97,
Q98, Q100, Q102, Q123,
Q125, Q128
Q3, Q5
Memory Issues
MI
Q26, Q34, Q37,Q38,
Q42, Q51, Q73, Q74
Q45, Q93 Q3, Q4
Scalability Issues
SI
Q23, Q24
Q20, Q21, Q120, Q122
Exception Handling
EH
Q39, Q40
Q76, Q77
Security
SE
Q10, Q35, Q70 Q12, Q13, Q23, Q35, Q46,
Q51, Q58, Q81, Q92
Q13
Best Practices
BP
Q17, Q25, Q39, Q72,
Q73
Q10, Q16, Q39, Q40, Q41,
Q46, Q82, Q124, Q125
Q1, Q2
12
Software
Development
Process
SD
- Q103-Q109, Q129, Q130,
Q132, Q136
Q1, Q9,
Q10, Q14
Q1, Q2
Coding1
CO
Q05, Q10, Q12, Q14 –
Q21, Q23, Q25, Q26,
Q33, Q35, Q39, Q51,
Q52, Q55
Q10, Q18, Q21, Q23, Q36,
Q38, Q42, Q43, Q45, Q74,
Q75, Q76, Q77, Q112,
Q114, Q127, Q128
Q11, Q12
Frequently Asked
Questions
FAQ
Q1, Q6, Q7, Q9, Q10,
Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15,
Q16, Q18, Q20, Q21,
Q22, Q23, Q27, Q28,
Q29, Q30, Q31, Q32,
Q36, Q37, Q43, Q45,
Q46, Q48, Q51, Q52,
Q55, Q58, Q60, Q62,
Q63, Q64, Q67, Q68,
Q69, Q70, Q71
Q72 – Q86
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q7, Q10, Q11,
Q12, Q13, Q16, Q19, Q22,
Q24, Q25, Q27, Q28, Q30,
Q31, Q32, Q34, Q35, Q36,
Q39, Q40, Q41, Q42, Q43,
Q45, Q46, Q48, Q49, Q50,
Q52, Q53, Q61, Q63, Q65,
Q66, Q69, Q70, Q71, Q72,
Q73, Q76, Q77, Q82, Q83,
Q84, Q85, Q86, Q87, Q90,
Q91, Q93, Q95, Q96, Q97,
Q98, Q100, Q101, Q102,
Q107, Q108, Q110, Q113,
Q115, Q116, Q118, Q123,
Q124, Q125, Q126, Q129,
Q130, Q131, Q133, Q134,
Q135, Q136.
Q1, Q2,
Q3, Q4,
Q5, Q6,
Q7, Q8,
Q9, Q10,
Q12, Q15
Q1, Q6, Q7,
Q9, Q10, Q11,
Q15, Q16,
Q17, Q18
1 Some interviewers request you to write a small program during interview or prior to getting to the interview stage. This is to ascertain
that you can code using object oriented concepts and design patterns. I have included a coding key area to illustrate what you need to
look for while coding. Unlike other key areas, the CO is not always shown against the question but shown above the actual section of
relevance within a question.
Java
13
SECTION ONE
Java – Interview questions & answers
Language Fundamentals LF
Design Concepts DC
Design Patterns DP
Concurrency Issues CI
Performance Issues PI
Memory Issues MI
Exception Handling EH
Security SE
Scalability Issues SI
Coding1 CO
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
1 Unlike other key areas, the CO is not always shown against the question but shown above the actual content of relevance within a
question.
KEY
ARE
AS
Java - Fundamentals
14
Java – Fundamentals
Q 01: Give a few reasons for using Java? LF DC FAQ
A 01: Java is a fun language. Let’s look at some of the reasons:
Built-in support for multi-threading, socket communication, and memory management (automatic garbage
collection).
Object Oriented (OO).
Better portability than other languages across operating systems.
Supports Web based applications (Applet, Servlet, and JSP), distributed applications (sockets, RMI, EJB etc)
and network protocols (HTTP, JRMP etc) with the help of extensive standardized APIs (Application
Programming Interfaces).
Q 02: What is the main difference between the Java platform and the other software platforms? LF
A 02: Java platform is a software-only platform, which runs on top of other hardware-based platforms like UNIX, NT etc.
The Java platform has 2 components:
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) – ‘JVM’ is a software that can be ported onto various hardware platforms. Byte
codes are the machine language of the JVM.
Java Application Programming Interface (Java API) – set of classes written using the Java language and run
on the JVM.
Q 03: What is the difference between C++ and Java? LF
A 03: Both C++ and Java use similar syntax and are Object Oriented, but:
Java does not support pointers. Pointers are inherently tricky to use and troublesome.
Java does not support multiple inheritances because it causes more problems than it solves. Instead Java
supports multiple interface inheritance, which allows an object to inherit many method signatures from
different interfaces with the condition that the inheriting object must implement those inherited methods. The
multiple interface inheritance also allows an object to behave polymorphically on those methods. [Refer Q9
and Q10 in Java section.]
Java does not support destructors but adds a finalize() method. Finalize methods are invoked by the garbage
collector prior to reclaiming the memory occupied by the object, which has the finalize() method. This means
you do not know when the objects are going to be finalized. Avoid using finalize() method to release nonmemory
resources like file handles, sockets, database connections etc because Java has only a finite
number of these resources and you do not know when the garbage collection is going to kick in to release
these resources through the finalize() method.
Java does not include structures or unions because the traditional data structures are implemented as an
object oriented framework (Java Collections Framework – Refer Q16, Q17 in Java section).
Java - Fundamentals
15
All the code in Java program is encapsulated within classes therefore Java does not have global variables or
functions.
C++ requires explicit memory management, while Java includes automatic garbage collection. [Refer Q37 in
Java section].
Q 04: What are the usages of Java packages? LF
A 04: It helps resolve naming conflicts when different packages have classes with the same names. This also helps you
organize files within your project. For example: java.io package do something related to I/O and java.net
package do something to do with network and so on. If we tend to put all .java files into a single package, as the
project gets bigger, then it would become a nightmare to manage all your files.
You can create a package as follows with package keyword, which is the first keyword in any Java program
followed by import statements. The java.lang package is imported implicitly by default and all the other packages
must be explicitly imported.
package com.xyz.client ;
import java.io.File;
import java.net.URL;
Q 05: Explain Java class loaders? If you have a class in a package, what do you need to do to run it? Explain dynamic
class loading? LF
A 05: Class loaders are hierarchical. Classes are introduced into the JVM as they are referenced by name in a class that
is already running in the JVM. So, how is the very first class loaded? The very first class is especially loaded with
the help of static main( ) method declared in your class. All the subsequently loaded classes are loaded by the
classes, which are already loaded and running. A class loader creates a namespace. All JVMs include at least one
class loader that is embedded within the JVM called the primordial (or bootstrap) class loader. Now let’s look at
non-primordial class loaders. The JVM has hooks in it to allow user defined class loaders to be used in place of
primordial class loader. Let us look at the class loaders created by the JVM.
CLASS LOADER reloadable? Explanation
Bootstrap
(primordial)
No Loads JDK internal classes, java.* packages. (as defined in the sun.boot.class.path
system property, typically loads rt.jar and i18n.jar)
Extensions No Loads jar files from JDK extensions directory (as defined in the java.ext.dirs system
property – usually lib/ext directory of the JRE)
System No Loads classes from system classpath (as defined by the java.class.path property, which
is set by the CLASSPATH environment variable or –classpath or –cp command line
options)
Bootstrap
(primordial)
(rt.jar, i18.jar)
Extensions
(lib/ext)
System
(-classpath)
Sibling1
classloader
Sibling2
classloader
JVM class loaders
Classes loaded by Bootstrap class loader have no visibility into classes
loaded by its descendants (ie Extensions and Systems class loaders).
The classes loaded by system class loader have visibility into classes loaded
by its parents (ie Extensions and Bootstrap class loaders).
If there were any sibling class loaders they cannot see classes loaded by
each other. They can only see the classes loaded by their parent class
loader. For example Sibling1 class loader cannot see classes loaded by
Sibling2 class loader
Both Sibling1 and Sibling2 class loaders have visibilty into classes loaded
by their parent class loaders (eg: System, Extensions, and Bootstrap)
Class loaders are hierarchical and use a delegation model when loading a class. Class loaders request their
parent to load the class first before attempting to load it themselves. When a class loader loads a class, the child
class loaders in the hierarchy will never reload the class again. Hence uniqueness is maintained. Classes loaded
Java - Fundamentals
16
by a child class loader have visibility into classes loaded by its parents up the hierarchy but the reverse is not true
as explained in the above diagram.
Q. What do you need to do to run a class with a main() method in a package?
Example: Say, you have a class named “Pet” in a project folder “c:\myProject” and package named
com.xyz.client, will you be able to compile and run it as it is?
package com.xyz.client;
public class Pet {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("I am found in the classpath");
}
}
To run c:\myProject> java com.xyz.client.Pet
The answer is no and you will get the following exception: “Exception in thread "main" java.lang.-
NoClassDefFoundError: com/xyz/client/Pet”. You need to set the classpath. How can you do that? One of the
following ways:
1. Set the operating system CLASSPATH environment variable to have the project folder “c:\myProject”. [Shown
in the above diagram as the System –classpath class loader]
2. Set the operating system CLASSPATH environment variable to have a jar file “c:/myProject/client.jar”, which
has the Pet.class file in it. [Shown in the above diagram as the System –classpath class loader].
3. Run it with –cp or –classpath option as shown below:
c:\>java –cp c:/myProject com.xyz.client.Pet
OR
c:\>java -classpath c:/myProject/client.jar com.xyz.client.Pet
Important: Two objects loaded by different class loaders are never equal even if they carry the same values, which mean a
class is uniquely identified in the context of the associated class loader. This applies to singletons too, where each class
loader will have its own singleton. [Refer Q51 in Java section for singleton design pattern]
Q. Explain static vs. dynamic class loading?
Static class loading Dynamic class loading
Classes are statically loaded with Java’s
“new” operator.
class MyClass {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Car c = new Car();
}
}
Dynamic loading is a technique for programmatically invoking the functions of a
class loader at run time. Let us look at how to load classes dynamically.
Class.forName (String className); //static method which returns a Class
The above static method returns the class object associated with the class
name. The string className can be supplied dynamically at run time. Unlike the
static loading, the dynamic loading will decide whether to load the class Car or
the class Jeep at runtime based on a properties file and/or other runtime
conditions. Once the class is dynamically loaded the following method returns an
instance of the loaded class. It’s just like creating a class object with no
arguments.
class.newInstance (); //A non-static method, which creates an instance of a
//class (i.e. creates an object).
Jeep myJeep = null ;
//myClassName should be read from a .properties file or a Constants class.
// stay away from hard coding values in your program. CO
String myClassName = "au.com.Jeep" ;
Class vehicleClass = Class.forName(myClassName) ;
myJeep = (Jeep) vehicleClass.newInstance();
myJeep.setFuelCapacity(50);
A NoClassDefFoundException is
thrown if a class is referenced with
Java’s “new” operator (i.e. static loading)
but the runtime system cannot find the
referenced class.
A ClassNotFoundException is thrown when an application tries to load in a
class through its string name using the following methods but no definition for the
class with the specified name could be found:
The forName(..) method in class - Class.
The findSystemClass(..) method in class - ClassLoader.
The loadClass(..) method in class - ClassLoader.
Java - Fundamentals
17
Q. What are “static initializers” or “static blocks with no function names”? When a class is loaded, all blocks
that are declared static and don’t have function name (i.e. static initializers) are executed even before the
constructors are executed. As the name suggests they are typically used to initialize static fields. CO
public class StaticInitializer {
public static final int A = 5;
public static final int B; //note that it is not public static final int B = null;
//note that since B is final, it can be initialized only once.
//Static initializer block, which is executed only once when the class is loaded.
static {
if(A == 5)
B = 10;
else
B = 5;
}
public StaticInitializer(){} //constructor is called only after static initializer block
}
The following code gives an Output of A=5, B=10.
public class Test {
System.out.println("A =" + StaticInitializer.A + ", B =" + StaticInitializer.B);
}
Q 06: What is the difference between constructors and other regular methods? What happens if you do not provide a
constructor? Can you call one constructor from another? How do you call the superclass’s constructor? LF FAQ
A 06:
Constructors Regular methods
Constructors must have the same name as the class
name and cannot return a value. The constructors
are called only once per creation of an object while
regular methods can be called many times. E.g. for a
Pet.class
public Pet() {} // constructor
Regular methods can have any name and can be called any number of
times. E.g. for a Pet.class.
public void Pet(){} // regular method has a void return type.
Note: method name is shown starting with an uppercase to
differentiate a constructor from a regular method. Better naming
convention is to have a meaningful name starting with a lowercase
like:
public void createPet(){} // regular method has a void return type
Q. What happens if you do not provide a constructor? Java does not actually require an explicit constructor in
the class description. If you do not include a constructor, the Java compiler will create a default constructor in the
byte code with an empty argument. This default constructor is equivalent to the explicit “Pet(){}”. If a class includes
one or more explicit constructors like “public Pet(int id)” or “Pet(){}” etc, the java compiler does not create the
default constructor “Pet(){}”.
Q. Can you call one constructor from another? Yes, by using this() syntax. E.g.
public Pet(int id) {
this.id = id; // “this” means this object
}
public Pet (int id, String type) {
this(id); // calls constructor public Pet(int id)
this.type = type; // ”this” means this object
}
Q. How to call the superclass constructor? If a class called “SpecialPet” extends your “Pet” class then you can
use the keyword “super” to invoke the superclass’s constructor. E.g.
public SpecialPet(int id) {
super(id); //must be the very first statement in the constructor.
}
To call a regular method in the super class use: “super.myMethod( );”. This can be called at any line. Some
frameworks based on JUnit add their own initialization code, and not only do they need to remember to invoke
Java - Fundamentals
18
their parent's setup() method, you, as a user, need to remember to invoke theirs after you wrote your initialization
code:
public class DBUnitTestCase extends TestCase {
public void setUp() {
super.setUp();
// do my own initialization
}
}
public void cleanUp() throws Throwable
{
try {
… // Do stuff here to clean up your object(s).
}
catch (Throwable t) {}
finally{
super.cleanUp(); //clean up your parent class. Unlike constructors
// super.regularMethod() can be called at any line.
}
}
Q 07: What are the advantages of Object Oriented Programming Languages (OOPL)? DC FAQ
A 07: The Object Oriented Programming Languages directly represent the real life objects like Car, Jeep, Account,
Customer etc. The features of the OO programming languages like polymorphism, inheritance and
encapsulation make it powerful. [Tip: remember pie which, stands for Polymorphism, Inheritance and
Encapsulation are the 3 pillars of OOPL]
Q 08: How does the Object Oriented approach improve software development? DC
A 08: The key benefits are:
Re-use of previous work: using implementation inheritance and object composition.
Real mapping to the problem domain: Objects map to real world and represent vehicles, customers,
products etc: with encapsulation.
Modular Architecture: Objects, systems, frameworks etc are the building blocks of larger systems.
The increased quality and reduced development time are the by-products of the key benefits discussed above.
If 90% of the new application consists of proven existing components then only the remaining 10% of the code
have to be tested from scratch.
Q 09: How do you express an ‘is a’ relationship and a ‘has a’ relationship or explain inheritance and composition? What
is the difference between composition and aggregation? DC FAQ
A 09: The ‘is a’ relationship is expressed with inheritance and ‘has a’ relationship is expressed with composition. Both
inheritance and composition allow you to place sub-objects inside your new class. Two of the main techniques for
code reuse are class inheritance and object composition.
Inheritance [ is a ] Vs Composition [ has a ]
Building
Bathroom
House
class Building{
.......
}
class House extends Building{
.........
}
is a [House is a Building]
class House {
Bathroom room = new Bathroom() ;
....
public void getTotMirrors(){
room.getNoMirrors();
....
}
}
is a has a [House has a Bathroom]
has a
Inheritance is uni-directional. For example House is a Building. But Building is not a House. Inheritance uses
extends key word. Composition: is used when House has a Bathroom. It is incorrect to say House is a
Java - Fundamentals
19
Bathroom. Composition simply means using instance variables that refer to other objects. The class House will
have an instance variable, which refers to a Bathroom object.
Q. Which one to favor, composition or inheritance? The guide is that inheritance should be only used when
subclass ‘is a’ superclass.
Don’t use inheritance just to get code reuse. If there is no ‘is a’ relationship then use composition for code
reuse. Overuse of implementation inheritance (uses the “extends” key word) can break all the subclasses, if
the superclass is modified.
Do not use inheritance just to get polymorphism. If there is no ‘is a’ relationship and all you want is
polymorphism then use interface inheritance with composition, which gives you code reuse (Refer Q10
in Java section for interface inheritance).
What is the difference between aggregation and composition?
Aggregation Composition
Aggregation is an association in which one class
belongs to a collection. This is a part of a whole
relationship where a part can exist without a whole.
For example a line item is a whole and product is a
part. If a line item is deleted then corresponding
product need not be deleted. So aggregation has a
weaker relationship.
Composition is an association in which one class belongs to a
collection. This is a part of a whole relationship where a part
cannot exist without a whole. If a whole is deleted then all parts are
deleted. For example An order is a whole and line items are parts.
If an order is deleted then all corresponding line items for that
order should be deleted. So composition has a stronger
relationship.
Q 10: What do you mean by polymorphism, inheritance, encapsulation, and dynamic binding? DC SE FAQ
A 10: Polymorphism – means the ability of a single variable of a given type to be used to reference objects of
different types, and automatically call the method that is specific to the type of object the variable references. In a
nutshell, polymorphism is a bottom-up method call. The benefit of polymorphism is that it is very easy to add new
classes of derived objects without breaking the calling code (i.e. getTotArea() in the sample code shown
below) that uses the polymorphic classes or interfaces. When you send a message to an object even though you
don’t know what specific type it is, and the right thing happens, that’s called polymorphism. The process used by
object-oriented programming languages to implement polymorphism is called dynamic binding. Let us look at
some sample code to demonstrate polymorphism: CO
+area() : double
<<abstract>>
Shape
+area() : double
Circle
+area() : double
HalfCircle
+area() : double
Square
//client or calling code
double dim = 5.0; //ie 5 meters radius or width
List listShapes = new ArrayList(20);
Shape s = new Circle();
listShapes.add(s); //add circle
s = new Square();
listShapes.add(s); //add square
getTotArea (listShapes,dim); //returns 78.5+25.0=103.5
//Later on, if you decide to add a half circle then define
//a HalfCircle class, which extends Circle and then provide an
//area(). method but your called method getTotArea(...) remains
//same.
s = new HalfCircle();
listShapes.add(s); //add HalfCircle
getTotArea (listShapes,dim); //returns 78.5+25.0+39.25=142.75
/** called method: method which adds up areas of various
** shapes supplied to it.
**/
public double getTotArea(List listShapes, double dim){
Iterator it = listShapes.iterator();
double totalArea = 0.0;
//loop through different shapes
while(it.hasNext()) {
Shape s = (Shape) it.next();
totalArea += s.area(dim); //polymorphic method call
}
return totalArea ;
}
Sample code:
For example: given a base
class/interface Shape,
polymorphism allows the
programmer to define
different area(double
dim1) methods for any
number of derived classes
such as Circle, Square etc.
No matter what shape an
object is, applying the area
method to it will return the
right results.
Later on HalfCicle can be
added without breaking
your called code i.e.
method getTotalArea(...)
Depending on what the
shape is, appropriate
area(double dim) method
gets called and calculated.
Circle area is 78.5sqm
Square area is 25sqm
HalfCircle area is 39.25
sqm
+area() : double
Circle
+area() : double
HalfCircle
+area() : double
Square
+area() : double
«interface»
Shape
Java - Fundamentals
20
Inheritance – is the inclusion of behavior (i.e. methods) and state (i.e. variables) of a base class in a derived class so
that they are accessible in that derived class. The key benefit of Inheritance is that it provides the formal mechanism for
code reuse. Any shared piece of business logic can be moved from the derived class into the base class as part of
refactoring process to improve maintainability of your code by avoiding code duplication. The existing class is called the
superclass and the derived class is called the subclass. Inheritance can also be defined as the process whereby one
object acquires characteristics from one or more other objects the same way children acquire characteristics from their
parents. There are two types of inheritances:
1. Implementation inheritance (aka class inheritance): You can extend an application’s functionality by reusing
functionality in the parent class by inheriting all or some of the operations already implemented. In Java, you can only
inherit from one superclass. Implementation inheritance promotes reusability but improper use of class inheritance can
cause programming nightmares by breaking encapsulation and making future changes a problem. With implementation
inheritance, the subclass becomes tightly coupled with the superclass. This will make the design fragile because if you
want to change the superclass, you must know all the details of the subclasses to avoid breaking them. So when using
implementation inheritance, make sure that the subclasses depend only on the behavior of the superclass, not on
the actual implementation. For example in the above diagram, the subclasses should only be concerned about the
behavior known as area() but not how it is implemented.
2. Interface inheritance (aka type inheritance): This is also known as subtyping. Interfaces provide a mechanism for
specifying a relationship between otherwise unrelated classes, typically by specifying a set of common methods each
implementing class must contain. Interface inheritance promotes the design concept of program to interfaces not to
implementations. This also reduces the coupling or implementation dependencies between systems. In Java, you can
implement any number of interfaces. This is more flexible than implementation inheritance because it won’t lock you into
specific implementations which make subclasses difficult to maintain. So care should be taken not to break the
implementing classes by modifying the interfaces.
Which one to use? Prefer interface inheritance to implementation inheritance because it promotes the design concept of
coding to an interface and reduces coupling. Interface inheritance can achieve code reuse with the help of object
composition. If you look at Gang of Four (GoF) design patterns, you can see that it favors interface inheritance to
implementation inheritance. CO
Implementation inheritance Interface inheritance with composition
Let’s assume that savings account and term deposit account
have a similar behavior in terms of depositing and
withdrawing money, so we will get the super class to
implement this behavior and get the subclasses to reuse this
behavior. But saving account and term deposit account
have specific behavior in calculating the interest.
Super class Account has reusable code as methods
deposit (double amount) and withdraw (double amount).
public abstract class Account {
public void deposit (double amount) {
System.out.println("depositing " + amount);
}
public void withdraw (double amount) {
System.out.println ("withdrawing " + amount);
}
public abstract double calculateInterest(double amount);
}
public class SavingsAccount extends Account {
public double calculateInterest (double amount) {
// calculate interest for SavingsAccount
return amount * 0.03;
}
public void deposit (double amount) {
super.deposit (amount); // get code reuse
// do something else
}
public void withdraw (double amount) {
Let’s look at an interface inheritance code sample, which makes use
of composition for reusability. In the following example the methods
deposit(…) and withdraw(…) share the same piece of code in
AccountHelper class. The method calculateInterest(…) has its specific
implementation in its own class.
public interface Account {
public abstract double calculateInterest(double amount);
public abstract void deposit(double amount);
public abstract void withdraw(double amount);
}
Code to interface so that the implementation can change.
public interface AccountHelper {
public abstract void deposit (double amount);
public abstract void withdraw (double amount);
}
class AccountHelperImpl has reusable code as methods deposit
(double amount) and withdraw (double amount).
public class AccountHelperImpl implements AccountHelper {
public void deposit(double amount) {
System.out.println("depositing " + amount);
}
public void withdraw(double amount) {
System.out.println("withdrawing " + amount);
}
}
public class SavingsAccountImpl implements Account {
Java - Fundamentals
21
super.withdraw (amount); // get code reuse
// do something else
}
}
public class TermDepositAccount extends Account {
public double calculateInterest (double amount) {
// calculate interest for SavingsAccount
return amount * 0.05;
}
public void deposit(double amount) {
super.deposit (amount); // get code reuse
// do something else
}
public void withdraw(double amount) {
super.withdraw (amount); // get code reuse
// do something else
}
}
// composed helper class (i.e. composition).
AccountHelper helper = new AccountHelperImpl ();
public double calculateInterest (double amount) {
// calculate interest for SavingsAccount
return amount * 0.03;
}
public void deposit (double amount) {
helper.deposit( amount); // code reuse via composition
}
public void withdraw (double amount) {
helper.withdraw (amount); // code reuse via composition
}
}
public class TermDepositAccountImpl implements Account {
// composed helper class (i.e. composition).
AccountHelper helper = new AccountHelperImpl ();
public double calculateInterest (double amount) {
//calculate interest for SavingsAccount
return amount * 0.05;
}
public void deposit (double amount) {
helper.deposit (amount) ; // code reuse via composition
}
public void withdraw (double amount) {
helper.withdraw (amount) ; // code reuse via composition
}
}
The Test class:
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Account acc1 = new SavingsAccountImpl();
acc1.deposit(50.0);
Account acc2 = new TermDepositAccountImpl();
acc2.deposit(25.0);
acc1.withdraw(25);
acc2.withdraw(10);
double cal1 = acc1.calculateInterest(100.0);
double cal2 = acc2.calculateInterest(100.0);
System.out.println("Savings --> " + cal1);
System.out.println("TermDeposit --> " + cal2);
}
}
The output:
depositing 50.0
depositing 25.0
withdrawing 25.0
withdrawing 10.0
Savings --> 3.0
TermDeposit --> 5.0
Q. Why would you prefer code reuse via composition over inheritance? Both the approaches make use of
polymorphism and gives code reuse (in different ways) to achieve the same results but:
The advantage of class inheritance is that it is done statically at compile-time and is easy to use. The disadvantage of
class inheritance is that because it is static, implementation inherited from a parent class cannot be changed at runJava
- Fundamentals
22
time. In object composition, functionality is acquired dynamically at run-time by objects collecting references to other
objects. The advantage of this approach is that implementations can be replaced at run-time. This is possible because
objects are accessed only through their interfaces, so one object can be replaced with another just as long as they
have the same type. For example: the composed class AccountHelperImpl can be replaced by another more
efficient implementation as shown below if required:
public class EfficientAccountHelperImpl implements AccountHelper {
public void deposit(double amount) {
System.out.println("efficient depositing " + amount);
}
public void withdraw(double amount) {
System.out.println("efficient withdrawing " + amount);
}
}
Another problem with class inheritance is that the subclass becomes dependent on the parent class implementation.
This makes it harder to reuse the subclass, especially if part of the inherited implementation is no longer desirable and
hence can break encapsulation. Also a change to a superclass can not only ripple down the inheritance hierarchy to
subclasses, but can also ripple out to code that uses just the subclasses making the design fragile by tightly coupling
the subclasses with the super class. But it is easier to change the interface/implementation of the composed class.
Due to the flexibility and power of object composition, most design patterns emphasize object composition over
inheritance whenever it is possible. Many times, a design pattern shows a clever way of solving a common problem
through the use of object composition rather then a standard, less flexible, inheritance based solution.
Encapsulation – refers to keeping all the related members (variables and methods) together in an object. Specifying
member variables as private can hide the variables and methods. Objects should hide their inner workings from the
outside view. Good encapsulation improves code modularity by preventing objects interacting with each other in
an unexpected way, which in turn makes future development and refactoring efforts easy. CO
setName (String name)
String getName()
int getMarks()
setMarks(int mark)
private int vmarks;
private String name;
Member
variables are
encapsulated,
so that they
can only be
accessed via
encapsulating
methods.
Class MyMarks {
private int vmarks = 0;
private String name;
public void setMarks(int mark)
throws MarkException {
if(mark > 0)
this.vmarks = mark;
else {
throw new MarkException("No negative
Values");
}
}
public int getMarks(){
return vmarks;
}
//getters and setters for attribute name goes here.
}
Sample code
Being able to encapsulate members of a class is important for security and integrity. We can protect variables from
unacceptable values. The sample code above describes how encapsulation can be used to protect the MyMarks object
from having negative values. Any modification to member variable “vmarks” can only be carried out through the setter
method setMarks(int mark). This prevents the object “MyMarks” from having any negative values by throwing an
exception.
Q 11: What is design by contract? Explain the assertion construct? DC
A 11: Design by contract specifies the obligations of a calling-method and called-method to each other. Design by
contract is a valuable technique, which should be used to build well-defined interfaces. The strength of this
programming methodology is that it gets the programmer to think clearly about what a function does, what pre
and post conditions it must adhere to and also it provides documentation for the caller. Java uses the assert
statement to implement pre- and post-conditions. Java’s exceptions handling also support design by contract
especially checked exceptions (Refer Q39 in Java section for checked exceptions). In design by contract in
addition to specifying programming code to carrying out intended operations of a method the programmer also
specifies:
Java - Fundamentals
36
method with
public
access
modifier
followed by an “@” sign and then unsigned hexadecimal representation of the hashcode, for example
Pet@162b91. This hexadecimal representation is not what the users of your class want to see.
Providing your toString() method makes your class much more pleasant to use and it is recommended
that all subclasses override this method. The toString() method is invoked automatically when your object
is passed to println(), assert() or the string concatenation operator (+).
public class Pet {
int id;
String name;
public boolean equals(Object obj){
//as shown above.
}
public int hashCode() {
//as shown before
}
public String toString() {
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
sb.append(“id=”).append(id);
sb.append(“,name=”).append(name);
return sb.toString();
}
}
clone()
method with
protected
access
modifier
You should override the clone() method very judiciously. Implementing a properly functioning clone method is complex
and it is rarely necessary. You are better off providing some alternative means of object copying (refer Q26 in Java
section) or simply not providing the capability. A better approach is to provide a copy constructor or a static factory
method in place of a constructor.
//constructor
public Pet(Pet petToCopy){
…
}
//static factory method
public static Pet newInstance(Pet petToCopy){
…
}
The clone() method can be disabled as follows:
public final Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
throw new CloneNotSupportedException();
}
finalize()
method
with
protected
access
modifier
Unlike C++ destructors, the finalize() method in Java is unpredictable, often dangerous and generally unnecessary.
Use try{} finally{} blocks as discussed in Q32 in Java section & Q45 in Enterprise section. The finalize() method should
only be used in rare instances as a safety net or to terminate non-critical native resources. If you do happen to call the
finalize() method in some rare instances then remember to call the super.finalize() as shown below:
protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
try{
//finalize subclass state
}
finally {
super.finalize();
}
}
Q 20: When providing a user defined key class for storing objects in the HashMaps or Hashtables, what methods do you
have to provide or override (i.e. method overriding)? LF PI CO FAQ
A 20: You should override the equals() and hashCode() methods from the Object class. The default implementation of
the equals() and hashcode(), which are inherited from the java.lang.Object uses an object instance’s memory
location (e.g. MyObject@6c60f2ea). This can cause problems when two instances of the car objects have the
same color but the inherited equals() will return false because it uses the memory location, which is different for
Java - Fundamentals
37
the two instances. Also the toString() method can be overridden to provide a proper string representation of your
object.
….
345678965
(hash value for
“John”)
76854676
(hash value for
“Sam”)
Map myMap = new HashMap();
myMap.put(“John”, “Sydney”);
myMap (HashMap)
Key index
array
hasCode()
1. call
2. store
“John” etc
list of keys which hash to the
same hash value 345678065.
Because often
two or more
keys can hash
to the same
hash value the
HashMap
maintains a
linked list of
keys that were
mapped to the
same hash
value.
storing value:
myMap.get(“John”);
retrieving value:
3. Call to find
the position
4. found the position
equals()
5. Loop through list of keys at this position, and use
the equals() method to see if the key is present
uses
If the key is not found (i.e. equals() method returns false for all
items in the list), then it assumes that the key is not present in the
HashMap “myMap”.
Note: It is simplified for clarity. myMap.containsKey(“John”) also calls hashCode() & equals() methods. If two keys are equal then they must have
the same hashCode() value, But if two keys have the same hashCode() value does not mean that they are equal.
“Sydney” etc
List of values for the
corresponding list of keys
“Sam” etc
“Melbourne”
etc
hashCode() & equals() methods
List of keys
List of values
Q. What are the primary considerations when implementing a user defined key?
• If a class overrides equals(), it must override hashCode().
• If 2 objects are equal, then their hashCode values must be equal as well.
• If a field is not used in equals(), then it must not be used in hashCode().
• If it is accessed often, hashCode() is a candidate for caching to enhance performance.
• It is a best practice to implement the user defined key class as an immutable (refer Q21) object.
Q. Why it is a best practice to implement the user defined key class as an immutable object?
Problem: As per the code snippet shown below if you use a mutable user defined class “UserKey” as a HashMap
key and subsequently if you mutate (i.e. modify via setter method e.g. key.setName(“Sam”)) the key after the
object has been added to the HashMap then you will not be able to access the object later on. The original key
object will still be in the HashMap (i.e. you can iterate through your HashMap and print it – both prints as “Sam” as
opposed to “John” & Sam) but you cannot access it with map.get(key) or querying it with
map.containsKey(key) will return false because the key “John” becomes “Sam” in the “List of keys” at the key
index “345678965” if you mutate the key after adding. These types of errors are very hard to trace and fix.
Map myMap = new HashMap(10);
//add the key “John”
UserKey key = new UserKey(“John”); //Assume UserKey class is mutable
myMap.put(key, “Sydney”);
//now to add the key “Sam”
key.setName(“Sam”); // same key object is mutated instead of creating a new instance.
// This line modifies the key value “John” to “Sam” in the “List of keys”
// as shown in the diagram above. This means that the key “John” cannot be
// accessed. There will be two keys with “Sam” in positions with hash
// values 345678965 and 76854676.
myMap.put(key, “Melbourne”);
myMap.get(new UserKey(“John”)); // key cannot be accessed. The key hashes to the same position
// 345678965 in the “Key index array” but cannot be found in the “List of keys”
Solution: Generally you use a java.lang.Integer or a java.lang.String class as the key, which are immutable Java
objects. If you define your own key class then it is a best practice to make the key class an immutable object (i.e.
do not provide any setXXX() methods in your key class. e.g. no setName(…) method in the UserKey class). If a
programmer wants to insert a new key then he/she will always have to instantiate a new object (i.e. cannot mutate
the existing key because immutable key object class has no setter methods).
Java - Fundamentals
42
performance benefit in explicitly declaring your serialVersionUID (because does not have to be calculated). So, it
is best practice to add your own serialVersionUID to your Serializable classes as soon as you create them as
shown below:
public class Car {
static final long serialVersionUID = 1L; //assign a long value
}
Note: Alternatively you can use the serialver tool comes with Sun’s JDK. This tool takes a full class name on the
command line and returns the serialVersionUID for that compiled class. For example:
static final long serialVersionUID = 10275439472837494L; //generated by serialver tool.
Q 24: Explain the Java I/O streaming concept and the use of the decorator design pattern in Java I/O? LF DP PI SI
A 24: Java input and output is defined in terms of an abstract concept called a “stream”, which is a sequence of data.
There are 2 kinds of streams.
Byte streams (8 bit bytes) Abstract classes are: InputStream and OutputStream
Character streams (16 bit UNICODE) Abstract classes are: Reader and Writer
Design pattern: java.io.* classes use the decorator design pattern. The decorator design pattern attaches
responsibilities to objects at runtime. Decorators are more flexible than inheritance because the inheritance
attaches responsibility to classes at compile time. The java.io.* classes use the decorator pattern to construct
different combinations of behavior at runtime based on some basic classes.
Attaching responsibilities to classes at
compile time using subclassing.
Attaching responsibilities to objects at runtime using a decorator
design pattern.
Inheritance (aka subclassing) attaches
responsibilities to classes at compile time. When
you extend a class, each individual changes you
make to child class will affect all instances of the
child classes. Defining many classes using
inheritance to have all possible combinations is
problematic and inflexible.
By attaching responsibilities to objects at runtime, you can apply changes
to each individual object you want to change.
File file = new File(“c:/temp”);
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file);
BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(fis);
Decorators decorate an object by enhancing or restricting functionality of
an object it decorates. The decorators add or restrict functionality to
decorated objects either before or after forwarding the request. At runtime
the BufferedInputStream (bis), which is a decorator (aka a wrapper
around decorated object), forwards the method call to its decorated object
FileInputStream (fis). The “bis” will apply the additional functionality of
buffering around the lower level file (i.e. fis) I/O.
java.io.* class hierarchy
java.lang.Object
java.io.InputStream java.io.OutputStream java.lang.System java.io.Reader java.io.Writer
java.io.FileInputStream java.io.FileOutputStream java.io.InputStreamReader java.io.OutputStreamWriter
java.io.FileReader Note: Only a few subclasses of abstract classes are java.io.BufferedReader java.io.FileWriter
shown for clarity.
Q. How does the new I/O (NIO) offer better scalability and better performance?
Java - Fundamentals
45
It is recommended to use logging frameworks like Log4J with SLF4J (Simple Logging Façade for Java),
which uses buffering instead of using default behavior of System.out.println(…..) for better performance.
Frameworks like Log4J are configurable, flexible, extensible and easy to use.
Use the NIO package, if you are using JDK 1.4 or later, which uses performance-enhancing features like
buffers to hold data, memory mapping of files, non-blocking I/O operations etc.
I/O performance can be improved by minimizing the calls to the underlying operating systems. The Java
runtime itself cannot know the length of a file, querying the file system for isDirectory(), isFile(), exists() etc
must query the underlying operating system.
Where applicable caching can be used to improve performance by reading in all the lines of a file into a Java
Collection class like an ArrayList or a HashMap and subsequently access the data from an in-memory
collection instead of the disk.
Q 26: What is the main difference between shallow cloning and deep cloning of objects? DC LF MI PI
A 26: The default behavior of an object’s clone() method automatically yields a shallow copy. So to achieve a deep copy
the classes must be edited or adjusted.
Shallow copy: If a shallow copy is performed on obj-1 as shown in fig-2 then it is copied but its contained objects
are not. The contained objects Obj-1 and Obj-2 are affected by changes to cloned Obj-2. Java supports shallow
cloning of objects by default when a class implements the java.lang.Cloneable interface.
Deep copy: If a deep copy is performed on obj-1 as shown in fig-3 then not only obj-1 has been copied but the
objects contained within it have been copied as well. Serialization can be used to achieve deep cloning. Deep
cloning through serialization is faster to develop and easier to maintain but carries a performance overhead.
Fig-2:Shallow cloning
Fig-3:Deep cloning
Shallow Vs Deep cloning
Obj-1
contained
Obj-1
contained
Obj-2
Fig-1:Original Object
contains contains
Obj-1
Cloned
Obj-2
contained
Obj-1
contained
Obj-2
Obj-1
contained
Obj-1
contained
Obj-2
Cloned
Obj-2
contained
Obj-1
contained
Obj-2
For example invoking clone() method on a collection like HashMap, List etc returns a shallow copy of HashMap,
List, instances. This means if you clone a HashMap, the map instance is cloned but the keys and values
themselves are not cloned. If you want a deep copy then a simple method is to serialize the HashMap to a
ByteArrayOutputSream and then deserialize it. This creates a deep copy but does require that all keys and values
in the HashMap are Serializable. Main advantage of this approach is that it will deep copy any arbitrary object
graph. Refer Q23 in Java section for deep copying using Serialization. Alternatively you can provide a static
factory method to deep copy. Example: to deep copy a list of Car objects.
public static List deepCopy(List listCars) {
List copiedList = new ArrayList(10);
for (Object object : listCars) { //JDK 1.5 for each loop
Car original = (Car)object;
Car carCopied = new Car(); //instantiate a new Car object
carCopied.setColor((original.getColor()));
copiedList.add(carCopied);
}
return copiedList;
}
Java - Fundamentals
61
Q 49: If 2 different threads hit 2 different synchronized methods in an object at the same time will they both continue?
LF
A 49: No. Only one method can acquire the lock.
run(){
car1.method2();
}
Thread1
run(){
car1.method1();
car2.method1();
car1.method3()
}
Thread2
run(){
car2.method2();
car2.method3();
}
Thread3
synchronized method1() {}
synchronized method2() {}
method3() {}
Car1 object
synchronized method1() {}
synchronized method2() {}
method3() {}
Car2 object
Thread synchronization
4. Always ok. method3() is not synchronized
6.Al w ays ok. m ethod3() is not sy n chro n ized
1. ok . m ethod1() is not bus y.
3. ok . M e th o d 2 () is no t b u sy
2. No. method2() is busy
5. No. method1() is busy.
Note: If your job requires deeper understanding of threads then please refer to the following articles by Allen Holub at
http://www.javaworld.com. There are number of parts (part 1 – Part - 8) to the article entitled “Programming Java threads in
the real world”. URLs for some of the parts are: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-09-1998/jw-09-threads.html,
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-1998/jw-10-toolbox.html, etc.
Q 50: Explain threads blocking on I/O? LF
A 50: Occasionally threads have to block on conditions other than object locks. I/O is the best example of this. Threads
block on I/O (i.e. enters the waiting state) so that other threads may execute while the I/O operation is performed.
When threads are blocked (say due to time consuming reads or writes) on an I/O call inside an object’s
synchronized method and also if the other methods of the object are also synchronized then the object is
essentially frozen while the thread is blocked.
Be sure to not synchronize code that makes blocking calls, or make sure that a non-synchronized method
exists on an object with synchronized blocking code. Although this technique requires some care to ensure that
the resulting code is still thread safe, it allows objects to be responsive to other threads when a thread holding its
locks is blocked.
Note: The java.nio.* package was introduced in JDK1.4. The coolest addition is non-blocking I/O (aka NIO that stands for New
I/O). Refer Q24 in Java section for NIO.
Note: Q51 & Q52 in Java section are very popular questions on design patterns.
Q 51: What is a singleton pattern? How do you code it in Java? DP MI CO FAQ
A 51: A singleton is a class that can be instantiated only one time in a JVM per class loader. Repeated calls always
return the same instance. Ensures that a class has only one instance, and provide a global point of access. It
can be an issue if singleton class gets loaded by multiple class loaders or JVMs.
public class OnlyOne {
private static OnlyOne one = new OnlyOne();
// private constructor. This class cannot be instantiated from outside and
// prevents subclassing.
private OnlyOne(){}
public static OnlyOne getInstance() {
return one;
}
}
Java – Performance and Memory issues
78
Java – Performance and Memory issues
Q. Give me an instance where you made a significant contribution in improving performance ?
There is a good chance that the position you are being interviewed for require someone with skills to identify performance
and/or memory issues and ability to optimize performance and solve memory issues. If you happen to be in an interview
with an organization facing serious issues with regards to their Java application relating to memory leaks, performance
problems or a crashing JVM etc then you are likely to be asked questions on these topics. You will find more questions
and answers relating to these key areas (i.e. performance and memory issues) in the Enterprise Java section and “How
would you go about…” sections. You could also demonstrate your skills in these key areas by reflecting back on your
past experiences as discussed in Q82 in Java section. Even though Q82 is a situational or behavioral question, you can
streamline your answer to demonstrate your technical strengths relating to these key areas as well as your behavioral
ability to cope with stress.
Q 72: How would you improve performance of a Java application? PI BP FAQ
A 72:
Pool valuable system resources like threads, database connections, socket connections etc. Emphasize on
reuse of threads from a pool of threads. Creating new threads and discarding them after use can adversely
affect performance. Also consider using multi-threading in your single-threaded applications where possible to
enhance performance. Optimize the pool sizes based on system and application specifications and
requirements. Having too many threads in a pool also can result in performance and scalability problems
due to consumption of memory stacks (i.e. each thread has its own stack. Refer Q34, Q42 in Java section)
and CPU context switching (i.e. switching between threads as opposed to doing real computation.).
Minimize network overheads by retrieving several related items simultaneously in one remote invocation if
possible. Remote method invocations involve a network round-trip, marshaling and unmarshaling of
parameters, which can cause huge performance problems if the remote interface is poorly designed. (Refer
Q125 in Enterprise section).
Most applications need to retrieve data from and save/update data into one or more databases. Database calls
are remote calls over the network. In general data should be lazily loaded (i.e. load only when required as
opposed to pre-loading from the database with a view that it can be used later) from a database to conserve
memory but there are use cases (i.e. need to make several database calls) where eagerly loading data and
caching can improve performance by minimizing network trips to the database. Data can be eagerly loaded
with a help of SQL scripts with complex joins or stored procedures and cached using third party frameworks or
building your own framework. At this point your interviewer could intercept you and ask you some pertinent
questions relating to caching like:
Q: How would you refresh your cache?
A: You could say that one of the two following strategies can be used:
1. Timed cache strategy where the cache can be replenished periodically (i.e. every 30 minutes, every
hour etc). This is a simple strategy applicable when it is acceptable to show dirty data at times and also
the data in the database does not change very frequently.
2. Dirty check strategy where your application is the only one which can mutate (i.e. modify) the data in
the database. You can set a “isDirty” flag to true when the data is modified in the database through your
application and consequently your cache can be refreshed based on the “isDirty” flag.
Q: How would you refresh your cache if your database is shared by more than one application?
A: You could use one of the following strategies:
1. Database triggers: You could use database triggers to communicate between applications sharing the
same database and write pollers which polls the database periodically to determine when the cache
should be refreshed. (Refer Q102 in Enterprise section)
2. XML messaging (Refer Enterprise – JMS subsection in Enterprise section) to communicate between
other applications sharing the same database or separate databases to determine when the cache
should be refreshed.
Java – Personal and Behavioral/Situational
86
behavioral technique is used to evaluate a candidate’s future success from past behaviors. The answers to these
questions must describe in detail a particular situation like an event, a project or an experience and how you acted on that
situation and what the results were. Prepare your answers prior to the interview using the “Situation Action Result (SAR)”
approach and avoid fabricating or memorizing your answers. You should try to relate back to your past experiences at
your previous employments, community events, sporting events etc. Sample questions and answers are shown below:
Q 82: Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to achieve it? Give me an example of a time you
showed initiatiative and took the lead? Tell me about a difficult decision you made in the last year? Give me an
example of a time you motivated others? Tell me about a most complex project you were involved in? FAQ
A 82:
Situation: When you were working for the ZCC Software Technology Corporation, the overnight batch process
called the “Data Pacakager” was developed for a large fast food chain which has over 100 stores. This overnight
batch process is responsible for performing a very database intensive search and compute changes like cost of
ingredients, selling price, new menu item etc made in various retail stores and package those changes into XML
files and send those XML data to the respective stores where they get uploaded into their point of sale registers to
reflect the changes. This batch process had been used for the past two years, but since then the number of stores
had increased and so did the size of the data in the database. The batch process, which used to take 6-8 hours to
complete, had increased to 14-16 hours, which obviously started to adversely affect the daily operations of these
stores. The management assigned you with the task of improving the performance of the batch process to 5-6
hours (i.e. suppose to be an overnight process).
Action: After having analyzed the existing design and code for the “Data Packager”, you had to take the
difficult decision to let the management know that this batch process needed to be re-designed and re-written as
opposed to modifying the existing code, since it was poorly designed. It is hard to extend, maintain (i.e. making a
change in one place can break the code some where else and so on) and had no object reuse through caching
(makes too many unnecessary network trips to the database) etc. The management was not too impressed with
this approach and concerned about the time required to rewrite this batch process since the management had
promised the retail stores to provide a solution within 8-12 weeks. You took the initiative and used your
persuasive skills to convince the management that you would be able to provide a re-designed and re-written
solution within the 8-12 weeks with the assistance of 2-3 additional developers and two testers. You were
entrusted with the task to rewrite the batch process and you set your goal to complete the task in 8 weeks. You
decided to build the software iteratively by building individual vertical slices as opposed to the big bang waterfall
approach [Refer subsection “Enterprise – Software development process” in Enterprise – Java section]. You
redesigned and wrote the code for a typical use case from end to end (i.e. full vertical slice) within 2 weeks and
subsequently carried out functional and integration testing to iron out any unforeseen errors or issues. Once the
first iteration is stable, you effectively communicated the architecture to the management and to your fellow
developers. Motivated and mentored your fellow developers to build the other iterations, based on the first
iteration. At the end of iteration, it was tested by the testers, while the developers moved on to the next iteration.
Results: After having enthusiastically worked to your plan with hard work, dedication and teamwork, you were
able to have the 90% of the functionality completed in 9 weeks and spent the next 3 weeks fixing bugs, tuning
performance and coding rest of the functionality. The fully functional data packager was completed in 12 weeks
and took only 3-4 hours to package XML data for all the stores. The team was under pressure at times but you
made them believe that it is more of a challenge as opposed to think of it as a stressful situation. The newly
designed data packager was also easier to maintain and extend. The management was impressed with the
outcome and rewarded the team with an outstanding achievement award. The performance of the newly
developed data packager was further improved by 20% by tuning the database (i.e. partitioning the tables,
indexing etc).
Q 83: Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills? Give me an
example of a time when you used your fact finding skills to solve a problem? Describe a time when you applied
your analytical and/or problem solving skills? FAQ
A 83:
Situation: When you were working for the Surething insurance corporation pty ltd, you were responsible for the
migration of an online insurance application (i.e. external website) to a newer version of application server (i.e. the
current version is no longer supported by the vendor). The migration happened smoothly and after a couple of
days of going live, you started to experience “OutOfMemoryError”, which forced you to restart the application
server every day. This raised a red alert and the immediate and the senior management were very concerned and
consequently constantly calling for meetings and updates on the progress of identifying the root cause of this
issue. This has created a stressful situation.
Enterprise Java
94
SECTION TWO
Enterprise Java – Interview questions & answers
Specification Fundamentals SF
Design Concepts DC
Design Patterns DP
Concurrency Issues CI
Performance Issues PI
Memory Issues MI
Exception Handling EH
Transactional Issues TI
Security SE
Scalability Issues SI
Best Practices BP
Coding1 CO
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
1 Unlike other key areas, the CO is not always shown against the question but shown above the actual content of relevance within a
question.
KEY
ARE
AS
Enterprise – J2EE Overview
95
Enterprise - J2EE Overview
Q 01: What is J2EE? What are J2EE components and services? SF FAQ
A 01: J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) is an environment for developing and deploying enterprise applications. The
J2EE platform consists of J2EE components, services, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and protocols
that provide the functionality for developing multi-tiered and distributed Web based applications.
Web
Server
HTML
CSS
J2EE Physical Tiers , Containers, Components , Services & APIs
Client Tier Application Tier (Middle Tier) Data (EIS) Tier
J2EE Application Server
RMI / IIOP
(X)HTML,
XML
(Browser)
Applet
Client Application
(stand alone Java
program)
HTTP(S)
HTTP(S)
RMI/IIOP
RDBMS
Java
Application
Corba Server
Messaging
Directory
Service
JDBC
JavaMail
RMI
JMS
IIOP
JNDI
Client
Application Server Database Server
Firewall Firewall
Web Server
internet
DMZ
Other Services + APIs provided by server/container:
Security (SSL, ACL, JAAS,X.509)
transactions, threading, Resource pooling (Eg: Connection pooling) etc
,Fault Tolerance, Load Balancing, clustering
Monitoring, Auditing, Logging etc
more...............
Web Container
Servlets JSP
Tag
library
RMI/IIOP
JNDI
JTA
JDBC
JMS
JavaMail
JAF
EJB Container
Session Beans Entity Beans Message Driven Beans
RMI/IIOP
JNDI
JTA
JDBC
JMS
JavaMail
JAF
Enterprise – J2EE Overview
96
A J2EE component is a self-contained functional software unit that is assembled into a J2EE application with its
related classes and files and communicates with other components. The J2EE specification defines the following
J2EE components:
Component type Components Packaged as
Applet applets JAR (Java ARchive)
Application client Client side Java codes. JAR (Java ARchive)
Web component JSP, Servlet WAR (Web ARchive)
Enterprise JavaBeans Session beans, Entity beans, Message driven beans JAR (EJB Archive)
Enterprise application WAR, JAR, etc EAR (Enterprise ARchive)
Resource adapters Resource adapters RAR (Resource Adapter ARchive)
Q. So what is the difference between a component and a service?
A component is an application level software unit as shown in the table above. All the J2EE components depend
on the container for the system level support like transactions, security, pooling, life cycle management, threading
etc. A service is a component that can be used remotely through a remote interface either synchronously or
asynchronously (e.g. Web service, messaging system, sockets, RPC etc). A service is a step up from “distributed
objects”. A service is a function that has a clearly defined service contract (e.g. interface, XML contract) to their
consumers or clients, self contained and does not depend on the context or state of other services.
Q. What is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)?
SOA is an evolution of the fundamentals governing a component based development. Component based
development provides an opportunity for greater code reuse than what is possible with Object Oriented (OO)
development. SOA provides even greater code reuse by utilizing OO development, component based
development and also by identifying and organizing right services into a hierarchy of composite services. SOA
results in loosely coupled application components, in which code is not necessarily tied to a particular database.
SOAs are very popular and there is a huge demand exists for development and implementation of SOAs. Refer
Q14 in How would you go about…? section for a more detailed discussion on SOA and Web services.
Q. What are Web and EJB containers?
Containers (Web & EJB containers) are the interface between a J2EE component and the low level platform
specific functionality that supports J2EE components. Before a Web, enterprise bean (EJB), or application client
component can be executed, it must be assembled into a J2EE module (jar, war, and/or ear) and deployed into its
container.
Q. Why do you need a J2EE server? What services does a J2EE server provide?
A J2EE server provides system level support services such us security, transaction management, JNDI (Java
Naming and Directory Interface) lookups, remote access etc. J2EE architecture provides configurable and nonconfigurable
services. The configurable service enables the J2EE components within the same J2EE application
to behave differently based on where they are deployed. For example the security settings can be different for the
same J2EE application in two different production environments. The non-configurable services include enterprise
bean (EJB) and servlet life cycle management, resource pooling etc.
Server supports various protocols. Protocols are used for access to Internet services. J2EE platform supports
HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), RMI (Remote
Method Invocation), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and SSL (Secured Socket Layer) protocol.
The J2EE API can be summarized as follows:
J2EE technology category API (Application Programming Interface)
Component model technology Java Servlet, JavaServer Pages(JSP), Enterprise JavaBeans(EJB).
Web Services technology
JAXP (Java API for XML Processing), JAXR (Java API for XML Registries), SAAJ (SOAP
with attachment API for Java), JAX-RPC (Java API for XML-based RPC), JAX-WS (Java
API for XML-based Web Services).
Enterprise – J2EE Overview
97
Other
JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity), JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface), JMS
(Java Messaging Service), JCA (J2EE Connector Architecture), JTA (Java Transaction
API), JavaMail, JAF (JavaBeans Activation Framework – used by JavaMail), JAAS (Java
Authentication and Authorization Service), JMX (Java Management eXtensions).
Q 02: Explain the J2EE 3-tier or n-tier architecture? SF DC FAQ
A 02: This is a very commonly asked question. Be prepared to draw some diagrams on the board. The J2EE platform is
a multi-tiered system. A tier is a logical or functional partitioning of a system.
2 – tier system 3 – tier system
2-Tier (Client/Server)
UserInterface
/display Logic
Business
logic
Database
logic
UserInterface
/display Logic
Business
logic
Database
logic
Client M/C 1 Client M/C 2
Database
Business Logic
Database logic
Data
When the developers are not disciplined, the
display logic, business logic and database
logic are muddled up and/or duplicated in a 2-
tier client server system.
3-Tier (or n-tier)
UserInterface
/display logic
UserInterface
/display logic
Client M/C 1 Client M/C 2
Middle-tier server
Database
Data
Business Logic
Database Logic
The advantages of the multi-tier architecture are:
Forced separation of user interface logic and business logic.
Business logic sits on small number of centralized machines (may be
just one).
Easy to maintain, to manage, to scale, loosely coupled etc.
Each tier is assigned a unique responsibility in a 3-tier system. Each tier is logically separated and loosely coupled
from each other, and may be distributed.
Client tier represents Web browser, a Java or other application, Applet, WAP phone etc. The client tier makes
requests to the Web server who will be serving the request by either returning static content if it is present in the
Web server or forwards the request to either Servlet or JSP in the application server for either static or dynamic
content.
Presentation tier encapsulates the presentation logic required to serve clients. A Servlet or JSP in the
presentation tier intercepts client requests, manages logons, sessions, accesses the business services, and finally
constructs a response, which gets delivered to client.
Business tier provides the business services. This tier contains the business logic and the business data. All the
business logic is centralized into this tier as opposed to 2-tier systems where the business logic is scattered
between the front end and the backend. The benefit of having a centralized business tier is that same business
logic can support different types of clients like browser, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) client, other standalone
applications written in Java, C++, C# etc.
Integration tier is responsible for communicating with external resources such as databases, legacy systems,
ERP systems, messaging systems like MQSeries etc. The components in this tier use JDBC, JMS, J2EE
Connector Architecture (JCA) and some proprietary middleware to access the resource tier.
Resource tier is the external resource such as a database, ERP system, Mainframe system etc responsible for
storing the data. This tier is also known as Data Tier or EIS (Enterprise Information System) Tier.
Enterprise – J2EE Overview
98
Logical or
Functional T iers
High Level
Tiers
Client
Client Tier
Web Server
Application Server
Middle T ier
RDBMS
XML
Data Tier
Client T ier
Applets, HTML,WML, JavaScript,
Application Clients etc
Presentation Tier
Resource Tier
Databases, ERP & CRM systems, Legacy
Systems etc
Business Tier
EJB, Java Classes, Business Objects etc
HTML, CSS, G IF Files etc
(static content)
JSPs, Servlets, Tags etc
(dynamic content)
Integration Tier
JMS, JDBC, Connectors(JCA), etc
J2EE patterns apply
J2EE Tiers
Note: On a high level J2EE can be construed as a 3-tier system consisting of Client Tier, Middle Tier (or
Application Tier) and Data Tier. But logically or functionally J2EE is a multi-tier (or n-tier) platform.
The advantages of a 3-tiered or n-tiered application: 3-tier or multi-tier architectures force separation among
presentation logic, business logic and database logic. Let us look at some of the key benefits:
Manageability: Each tier can be monitored, tuned and upgraded independently and different people can have
clearly defined responsibilities.
Scalability: More hardware can be added and allows clustering (i.e. horizontal scaling).
Maintainability: Changes and upgrades can be performed without affecting other components.
Availability: Clustering and load balancing can provide availability.
Extensibility: Additional features can be easily added.
The following diagram gives you a bigger picture of the logical tiers and the components.
Enterprise – J2EE Overview
105
<security-role>
<description>Advisor</description>
<role-name>advisor</role-name>
</security-role>
</web-app>
Q 08: Explain J2EE class loaders? SF
A 08: J2EE application server sample class loader hierarchy is shown below. (Also refer to Q5 in Java section). As per
the diagram the J2EE application specific class loaders are children of the “System –classpath” class loader.
When the parent class loader is above the “System –classpath” class loader in the hierarchy as shown in the
diagram (i.e. bootstrap class loader or extensions class loader) then child class loaders implicitly have visibility to
the classes loaded by its parents. When a parent class loader is below a “System -classpath” class loader in the
hierarchy then the child class loaders will only have visibility into the classes loaded by its parents only if they
are explicitly specified in a manifest file (MANIFEST.MF) of the child class loader.
Example As per the diagram, if the EJB module MyAppsEJB.jar wants to refer to MyAppsCommon.jar and
MyAppsUtil.jar we need to add the following entry in the MyAppsEJB.jar’s manifest file MANIFEST.MF.
class-path: MyAppsCommon.jar MyAppsUtil.jar
Bootstrap(JVM)
(rt.jar, i18.jar)
Extensions(JVM)
(lib/ext)
System(JVM)
(-classpath)
Application class
loader (EAR)
Application class
loader (EAR)
EJB class loader EJB class loader
WAR class
loader
WAR class
loader
WAR class
loader
Each EAR gets its own
instance of class loader
All the EJB jars in a ear file share
the same EJB class loader.
Each WAR gets its own instance of
class loader. The WEB-INF/lib libraries
are specific to each WAR
Note: Application vendor's Server class loader hierarchy might slightly vary
.
J2EE application server sample class loader hierarchy
MyApps.ear
MyAppsUtil.jar
MyAppsCommon.jar
MyAppsEJB.jar
MyAppsWeb.war
This is because the application (EAR) class loader loads the MyAppsCommon.jar and MyAppsUtil.jar. The EJB
class loader loads the MyAppsEJB.jar, which is the child class loader of the application class loader. The WAR
class loader loads the MyAppsWeb.war.
Every J2EE application or EAR gets its own instance of the application class loader. This class loader is also
responsible for loading all the dependency jar files, which are shared by both Web and EJB modules. For
example third party libraries like log4j, utility (e.g. MyAppsUtility.jar) and common (e.g. MyAppsCommon.jar) jars
etc. Any application specific exception like MyApplicationException thrown by an EJB module should be caught by
a Web module. So the exception class MyApplicationException is shared by both Web and EJB modules.
The key difference between the EJB and WAR class loader is that all the EJB jars in the application share the
same EJB class loader whereas WAR files get their own class loader. This is because the EJBs have inherent
relationship between one another (i.e. EJB-EJB communication between EJBs in different applications but hosted
on the same JVM) but the Web modules do not. Every WAR file should be able to have its own WEB-INF/lib third
How would you go about …?
238
SECTION THREE
How would you go about…?
This section basically assesses your knowledge of how to perform certain
tasks like documenting your project, identifying any potential performance,
memory, transactional, and/or design issues etc.
It also assesses if you have performed any of these tasks before. If you have
not done a particular task, you can demonstrate that you know how to go about
it if the task is assigned to you.
This section also recaps some of the key considerations discussed in the Java
and Enterprise sections. Question numbers are used for cross-referencing
with Java and Enterprise sections.
Q11 & Q14 are discussed in more detail and can be used as a quick reference
guide in a software project. All the other questions excluding Q11 & Q14 can
be read just before an interview.
How would you go about …?
253
Q 11: How would you go about applying the design patterns in your Java/J2EE application?
A 11: It is really worth reading books and articles on design patterns. It is sometimes hard to remember the design
patterns, which you do not use regularly. So if you do not know a particular design pattern you can always honestly say
that you have not used it and subsequently suggest that you can explain another design pattern, which you have used
recently or more often. It is always challenging to decide, which design pattern to use when? How do you improve your
design pattern skills? Practice, practice, practice. I have listed some of the design patterns below with scenarios and
examples:
To understand design patterns you need to have a basic understanding of object-oriented concepts like:
Decomposition: The process of dividing a problem into smaller pieces (i.e. divide and conquer approach). The following
examples will break different scenarios into objects, each with specific responsibilities. A good decomposition will often
result in improved reusability.
Polymorphism, Inheritance, and Encapsulation: Refer Q10 in Java section.
Loose coupling: The process of making objects independent of each other rather than dependent of one another.
Loosely coupled objects are easier to reuse and change.
Note: To keep it simple, System.out.println(…) is used. In real practice, use logging frameworks like log4j. Also package constructs are
not shown. In real practice, each class should be stored in their relevant packages like com.items etc. Feel free to try these code
samples by typing them into a Java editor of your choice and run the main class Shopping. Also constants should be declared in a
typesafe manner as shown below:
/**
* use typesafe enum pattern as shown below if you are using below J2SE 5.0 or use “enum” if you are using J2SE 5.0
*/
public class ItemType {
private final String name;
public static final ItemType Book = new ItemType("book");
public static final ItemType CD = new ItemType("cd");
public static final ItemType COSMETICS = new ItemType("cosmetics");
public static final ItemType CD_IMPORTED = new ItemType("cd_imported");
private ItemType(String name) {this.name = name;}
public String toString() {return name;}
//add compareTo(), readResolve() methods etc as required ...
}
Scenario: A company named XYZ Retail is in the business of selling Books, CDs and Cosmetics. Books are sales tax
exempt and CDs and Cosmetics have a sales tax of 10%. CDs can be imported and attracts an import tax of 5%. Write a
shopping basket program, which will calculate extended price (qty * (unitprice + tax)) inclusive of tax for each item in the
basket, total taxes and grand total.
Solution: Sample code for the items (i.e. Goods) sold by XYZ Retail. Let’s define an Item interface to follow the design
principle of code to an interface not to an implementation. CO
public interface Item {
public static final int TYPE_BOOK = 1;
public static final int TYPE_CD = 2;
public static final int TYPE_COSMETICS = 3;
public static final int TYPE_CD_IMPORTED = 4;
public double getExtendedTax();
public double getExtendedTaxPrice() throws ItemException;
public void setImported(boolean b);
public String getDescription();
}
The following class Goods cannot be instantiated (since it is abstract). You use this abstract class to achieve code
reuse.
Emerging Technologies/Frameworks…
311
SECTION FOUR
Emerging Technologies/Frameworks…
This section covers some of the popular emerging technologies you need to be at
least aware of, if you have not already used them. If there are two or more interview
candidates with similar skills and experience then awareness or experience with
some of the emerging technologies can play a role in the decision making. Some
organizations might be considering or already started using these technologies. So
it is well worth your effort to demonstrate that you understand the basic concepts or
have an appreciation for the following technologies/frameworks and an eagerness
to learn.
Test Driven Development (TDD).
Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP).
Inversion of Control (IoC) (Also known as Dependency Injection).
Annotation or attribute based programming (xdoclet etc).
Spring framework.
Hibernate framework.
EJB 3.0
Component based Web frameworks like (JSF, Tapestry etc)
Note: It is out of scope for this book to cover all of these technologies/frameworks in detail. Important
and popular technologies (TDD, AOP, IoC, and Annotations) and frameworks (Hibernate, Spring, EJB
3.0) are discussed with examples. If you hire smart people with a good understanding of Java/J2EE
core concepts and key areas with some basic understanding of emerging technologies and frameworks
then their current skills are not as important as their ability to learn quickly, eagerness to learn, and be
productive.
Emerging Technologies/Frameworks…
312
Q. What is the hot trend in Enterprise apps these days?
This section covers some of the recent and popular design paradigms such as Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs) and Plain Old Java
Interfaces (POJI) based services and interceptors, Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP), Dependency Injection (aka IoC), attributes or
annotations oriented programming, etc and tools and frameworks which apply these new paradigms such as Spring (IoC and AOP),
Hibernate (O/R mapping), EJB 3.0 (POJO, POJI, and annotations), XDoclet (attributes oriented programming) , JSF (component based
Web framework), Tapestry (component based Web framework) etc. All these have emerged over the past 2-4 years.
Q. Why should you seriously consider these technologies?
These new paradigms and frameworks can offer great benefits such as ease of maintenance, reduction in code size, elimination of
duplication of code, ease of unit testing, loose coupling among components, light weight and fine grained objects, and developer
productivity.
Q. How would you convince a development team to use these new paradigms/frameworks?
Build a vertical slice with some code for a business use case to demonstrate the above mentioned benefits.
Q 01: What is Test Driven Development (TDD)? FAQ
A 01: TDD is an iterative software development process where you first write the test with the idea that it must fail.
This is a different approach to the traditional development where you write the application functionality first and
then write test cases. The major benefit of this approach is that the code becomes thoroughly unit tested (you can
use JUnit or other unit testing frameworks). For JUnit refer Q14 on “How would you go about…” section. TDD is
based on two important principles preached by its originator Kent Beck:
Write new business code only if an automated unit test has failed: Business application requirements
drive the tests and tests drive the actual functional code. Each test should test only one business concept,
which means avoid writing a single test which tests withdrawing money from an account and depositing money
into an account. Any change in the business requirements will impact pre and post conditions of the test.
Talking about pre and post conditions, following design by contract methodology (Refer Q11 in Java section)
helps achieving TDD. In design by contract, you specify the pre and post conditions that act as contracts of a
method, which provides a specification to write your tests against.
Eliminate duplication from the code: A particular business concept should be implemented only once within
the application code. Code for checking an account balance should be centralized to only one place within the
application code. This makes your code decoupled, more maintainable and reusable.
I can hear some of you all saying how can we write the unit test code without the actual application code. Let’s
look at how it works in steps. The following steps are applied iteratively for business requirements.
STEP: 1 write some tests for a specific business requirement.
STEP: 2 write some basic structural code so that your test compiles but the test should fail (failures are the
pillars of success). For example just create the necessary classes and corresponding methods with skeletal code.
STEP: 3 write the required business code to pass the tests which you wrote in step 1.
STEP: 4 finally refactor the code you just wrote to make it is as simple as it can be. You can refactor your code
with confidence that if it breaks the business logic then you have unit test cases that can quickly detect it.
STEP: 5 run your tests to make sure that your refactored code still passes the tests.
STEP: 6 Repeat steps 1-5 for another business requirement.
To write tests efficiently some basic guidelines need to be followed:
You should be able to run each test in isolation and in any order.
The test code should not have any duplicate business logic.
You should test for all the pre and post conditions as well as exceptions.
Each test should concentrate on one business requirement as mentioned earlier.
There are many ways to write test conditions so proper care and attention should be taken. In some cases
pair programming can help by allowing two brains to work in collaboration. You should have strategies to
overcome issues around state of data in RDBMS (Should you persist sample test data, which is a snapshot
of your actual data prior to running your tests? Or should you hard code data? Or Should you combine both
strategies? Etc).
Sample interview questions
344
SECTION FIVE
Sample interview questions…
Tips:
Try to find out the needs of the project in which you will be working and the
needs of the people within the project.
80% of the interview questions are based on your own resume.
Where possible briefly demonstrate how you applied your skills/knowledge in the
key areas as described in this book. Find the right time to raise questions and
answer those questions to show your strength.
Be honest to answer technical questions, you are not expected to know
everything (for example you might know a few design patterns but not all of
them etc).
Do not be critical, focus on what you can do. Also try to be humorous.
Do not act in superior way.
General Tip #11:
There is a difference between looking excited about a job or a job offer and looking desperate for one. Do not immediately
jump at the opportunity. If you have any impending interviews ask the interviewer for some time to respond to the offer.
Never give into the pressure (e.g. this is the best job and if you do not take it right now you might miss out etc) from the
job agencies. Interviewers are generally happy to wait for the right candidate. Give yourself attention to all the aspects on
offer like salary, type of industry (finance, telecom, consulting etc), opportunity for growth, type of project (large scale
mission critical, medium sized etc), type of role (design, development and design, team lead, architect etc), type of
technology used and opportunity to learn new things (e.g. Spring, Hibernate, Tapestry, JSF, Web services, messaging
etc) to keep you motivated at your job as well as improve your future job prospects. Never think of salary aspect alone.
You should have a long term plan. Sometimes it is worth your while to compromise on a few quid to acquire most sought
after skills (at the time of writing Spring, Hibernate, JSF, Tapestry etc) and/or valuable skills (design skills, leadership
skills etc). So for each interview you attend keep a checklist of aspects on offer and always act calmly and professionally
to make the right decision for you.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
348
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
TERM DESCRIPTION
ACID Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability.
Ajax Asynchronous JavaScript And XML
aka also known as.
AOP Aspect Oriented Programming
API Application Programming Interface
AWT Abstract Window Toolkit
BLOB Binary Large Object
BMP Bean Managed Persistence
CGI Common Gateway Interface
CLOB Character Large OBject
CMP Container Managed Persistence
CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture
CRM Customer Relationships Management
CRUD Create, Read, Update and Delete
CSS Cascading Style Sheets
csv Comma Separated Value
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Checks
DAO Data Access Object
DNS Domain Name Service
DOM Document Object Model
DTD Document Type Definition
EAR Enterprise ARchive
EIS Enterprise Information System
EJB Enterprise JavaBean
EL Expression Language
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning
FDD Feature Driven Development
GIF Graphic Interchange Format
GOF Gang Of Four
HQL Hibernate Query Language.
HTML Hyper Text Markup Language
HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
I/O Input/Output
IDE Integrated Development Environment
IIOP Internet Inter-ORB Protocol
IoC Inversion of Control
IP Internet Protocol
J2EE Java 2 Enterprise Edition
JAAS Java Authentication and Authorization Service
JAF JavaBeans Activation Framework
JAR Java ARchive
JAXB Java API for XML Binding
JAXP Java API for XML Parsing
JAXR Java API for XML Registries
JAX-RPC Java API for XML-based RPC
JAX-WS Java API for XML-based Web Services
JCA J2EE Connector Architecture
JDBC Java Database Connectivity
JDK Java Development Kit
JFC Java Foundation Classes
JMS Java Messaging Service
JMX Java Management eXtensions
JNDI Java Naming and Directory Interface
JNI Java Native Interface
JRMP Java Remote Method Protocol
JSF JavaServer Faces
JSP Java Server Pages
JSTL Java Standard Tag Library
JTA Java Transaction API
JVM Java Virtual Machine
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
349
MOM Message Oriented Middleware
MVC Model View Controller
NDS Novell Directory Service
NIO New I/O
O/R mapping Object to Relational mapping.
OO Object Oriented
OOP Object Oriented Programming
OOPL Object Oriented Programming Language
ORB Object Request Broker
ORM Object to Relational Mapping.
POJI Plain Old Java Interface
POJO Plain Old Java Object
RAR Resource adapter ARchive
RDBMS Relational Database Management System
RMI Remote Method Invocation
RPC Remote Procedure Call
RUP Rational Unified Process
SAAJ SOAP with attachment API for Java
SAX Simple API for XML
SOA Service Oriented Architecture
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
SQL Structured Query Language
SSL Secure Sockets Layer
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TDD Test Driven Development
UDDI Universal Description Discovery and Integration
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UI User Interface
UML Unified Modeling Language
URI Uniform Resource Identifier
URL Uniform Resource Locator
UTF
VO Value Object which is a plain Java class which has attributes or fields and corresponding getter getXXX()
and setter setXXX() methods .
WAR Web ARchive
WML Wireless Markup Language
WSDL Web Service Description Language
XHTML Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
XML Extensible Markup Language
XP Extreme Programming
XPath XML Path
XSD XML Schema Definition
XSL Extensible Style Language
XSL-FO Extensible Style Language – Formatting Objects
XSLT Extensible Style Language Transformation
RESOURCES
350
RESOURCES
Articles
Sun Java Certified Enterprise Architect by Leo Crawford on http://www.leocrawford.org.uk/work/jcea/part1/index.html.
Practical UML: A Hands-On Introduction for Developers by Randy Miller on http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
W3 Schools on http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp.
LDAP basics on http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/index.htm?info/rzahy/rzahyovrco.htm.
Java World articles on design patterns: http://www.javaworld.com/columns/jw-Java-design-patterns-index.shtml.
Web Servers vs. App Servers: Choosing Between the Two By Nelson King on
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/1355131.
Follow the Chain of Responsibility by David Geary on Java World - http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2003/jw-0829-
designpatterns.html.
J2EE Design Patterns by Sue Spielman on http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/01/16/patterns.html.
The New Methodology by Martin Fowler on http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html.
Merlin brings nonblocking I/O to the Java platform by Aruna Kalagnanam and Balu G on
http://www.ibm.com//developerworks/Java/library/j-javaio.
Hibernate Tips and Pitfalls by Phil Zoio on http://www.realsolve.co.uk/site/tech/hib-tip-pitfall-series.php.
Hibernate Reference Documentation on http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/reference/en/html_single/.
Object-relation mapping without the container by Richard Hightower on http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/jhibern/?
ca=dnt515.
Object to Relational Mapping and Relationships with Hibernate by Mark Eagle on http://www.meagle.com:8080/hibernate.jsp.
Mapping Objects to Relational databases: O/R Mapping In detail by Scott W. Ambler on
http://www.agiledata.org/essays/mappingObjects.html.
I want my AOP by Ramnivas Laddad on Java World.
WebSphere Application Server 5.0 for iSeries – Performance Considerations by Jill Peterson.
Dependency Injection using pico container by Subbu Ramanathan .
WebSphere Application Server & Database Performance tuning by Michael S. Pallos on
http://www.bizforum.org/whitepapers/candle-5.htm.
A beginners guide to Dependency Injection by Dhananjay Nene on
http://www.theserverside.com/articles/article.tss?l=IoCBeginners.
The Spring series: Introduction to the Spring framework by Naveen Balani on http://www-
128.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-spring1.
The Spring Framework by Benoy Jose.
Inversion of Control Containersband the Dependency Injection pattern by Martin Fowler.
Migrate J2EE Applications for EJB 3.0 by Debu Panda on JavaPro.
EJB 3.0 in a nutshell by Anil Sharma on JavaWorld.
Preparing for EJB 3.0 by Mike Keith on ORACLE Technology Network.
Simplify enterprise Java development with EJB 3.0 by Michael Juntao Yuan on JavaWorld.
J2SE: New I/O by John Zukowski on http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/releases/nio/.
High-Performance I/O arrives by Danniel F. Savarese on JavaPro.
Hibernate – Proxy Visitor Pattern by Kurtis Williams.
Best Practices for Exception Handling by Gunjan Doshi.
Three Rules for Effective Exception Handling by Jim Cushing.
LDAP and JNDI: Together forever – by Sameer Tyagi.
Introduction To LDAP – by Brad Marshall.
Java theory and practice: Decorating with dynamic proxies by Brian Goetz.
Java Dynamic Proxies: One Step from Aspect-Oriented Programming by Lara D’Abreo.
Java Design Patterns on http://www.allapplabs.com/java_design_patterns .
Software Design Patterns on http://www.dofactory.com/Patterns/Patterns.aspx .
JRun: Core Dump and Dr. Watson Errors on http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_17534
The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing by Joel Spolsky at http://www.joelonsoftware.com/printerFriendly/articles/fog0000000073.html
The Riddle of Job Interviews by Kate Kane at http://www.fastcompany.com/online/01/jobint_Printer_Fiendly.html
An Introduction to Aspect-Oiented Programming with the Spring Framework, Part 1 by Russell Miles at
http://www.onjava.com/lpt/a/4994
5 Habits Of Best Software Developers by Angusman Chakraborty at http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/5-habits-of-bestdoftware-
developers/
Getting started with Hibernate by Alan P Saxton at http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~aps/syllabi/2004_2005/issws/h03/hibernate.html
Hibernate Tips by Jason Carreira at http://jroller.com/page/jcarreira/20050223
Five Things I Love About Spring by Bruce A. Tate at http://www.onjava.com/lpt/a/5833
Service-oriented modeling and architecture by Ali Arsanjani , Ph.D at http://www-
128.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-soa-design1/
Delving into Service-Oriented Architecture by Bernhad Borges, Kerrie Holley and Ali Arsanjani at
http://www.developer.com/design/print.php/10925_3409221_1
SOA: Are We Reinventing the Wheel? By Nick Simha at http://dev2dev.bea.com/lpt/a/435
Getting a little closer to SOA by Fabrice Marguerie at http://madgeek.com/Articles/SOA/EN/SOA-Softly.html
What is sevice-oriented architecture by Raghu R. Kodali at http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-2005/jw-0613-soa_p.html
RESOURCES
351
J2EE-Supported Web Service standards and Technologies by Vijay Ramachandran, Sean Brydon, Greg Murray. Inderjeet Singh,
Beth Stearns, Thierry Violleau.
J2EE 1.4 eases Web service development by Frank Sommers at http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-2003/jw-0620-
webservices_p.html
A developer’s introduction to JAX-RPC, Part 1 & 2 by Joshy Joseph at http://www-
128.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/
Developing Web Services with Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4 Platform by Qusay H. Mahmoud at
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/j2ee_ws/
Scriptless JSP Pages: The Front Man by Bear Bibeault at http://www.javaranch.com/journal/200603/Journal200603.jsp
Advanced DAO programming by Sean Sullivan at http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-dao/
Understanding JavaServer Pages Model 2 architecture by Govind Seshadri at http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-1999/jw-
12-ssj-jspmvc_p.html
A Fast Introduction to Basic Servlet Programming by Marty Hall at
http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly.asp/p=29817&r1=1
What’s new in J2Se 5.0? based on Joshua Bloch’s on-line talk.
Introducing Java 5 by Andy Grant at http://www.sitepoint.com/print/introducing-java-5
Experiences with the New Java 5 Language Features by Jess Garms and Tim Hanson at http://dev2dev.bea.com/lpt/a/442
Five Favorite Features from 5.0 by David Flanagan at http://www.onjava.com/lpt/a/5799
First among equals by Kevlin Henney at http://www.regdeveloper.com/2005/12/29/first_among_equals/print.html
Painting in AWT and Swing by Amy Fowler.
A Hands-On Introduction for Developers by Randy Miller at http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
www.javaworld.com articles.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java articles.
http://www.devx.com/java articles.
www.theserverside.com/tss articles.
http://javaboutique.internet.com/articles articles.
Books
Beginning Java 2 by Ivor Horton.
Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides (GoF) .
UML Distilled by Martin Fowler, Kendall Scott .
Mastering Enterprise Java Beans II by Ed Roman, Scott Ambler, Tyler Jewell, Floyd Marinescu.
EJB Design Patterns by Floyd Marinescu .
Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for J2EE Technology Study Guide by Mark Cade and Simon Roberts.
Professional Java Server Programming - J2EE edition by Wrox publication.
Design Patterns Java Companion by James W. Cooper (Free download: http://www.patterndepot.com/put/8/JavaPatterns.htm).
Test Driven Development – By Example, by Kent Beck.
Effective Java – programming language guide by Joshua Bloch
INDEX
352
INDEX
Emerging Technologies/Frameworks
Briefly explain key features of the JavaServer Faces (JSF)
framework? 339
Explain Object-to-Relational (O/R) mapping? 323
Explain some of the pitfalls of Hibernate and explain how to
avoid them? 333
Give an overview of hibernate framework? 324
Give an overview of the Spring framework? 334
How would EJB 3.0 simplify your Java development
compared to EJB 1.x, 2.x? 337
How would the JSF framework compare with the Struts
framework? 341
What are the benefits of IoC (aka Dependency Injection)?
322
What are the differences between OOP and AOP? 317
What are the different types of dependency injections? 321
What are the pros and cons of annotations over XML based
deployment descriptors? 318
What is aspect oriented programming? Explain AOP? 313
What is attribute or annotation oriented programming? 317
What is inversion of control (IoC) (also known as
dependency injection)? 319
What is Test Driven Development (TDD)? 312
What is the difference between a service locator pattern
and an inversion of control pattern? 323
What is the point of Test Driven Development (TDD)? 313
What is XDoclet? 319
Why dependency injection is more elegant than a JNDI
lookup to decouple client and the service? 323
Enterprise - Best practices and performance
considerations
Explain some of the J2EE best practices to improve
performance? 223
Explain some of the J2EE best practices? 222
Give some tips on J2EE application server performance
tuning? 222
Enterprise - EJB 2.x
Can an EJB client invoke a method on a bean directly? 168
Discuss EJB container security? 174
Explain EJB architecture? 165
Explain exception handling in EJB? 172
Explain lazy loading and dirty marker strategies? 179
How can we determine if the data is stale (for example
when using optimistic locking)? 174
How do you rollback a container managed transaction in
EJB? 173
How to design transactional conversations with session
beans? 172
What are EJB best practices? 176
What are isolation levels? 170
What are not allowed within the EJB container? 174
What are the implicit services provided by an EJB
container? 170
What are transactional attributes? 170
What is a business delegate? Why should you use a
business delegate? 176
What is a distributed transaction? What is a 2-phase
commit? 171
What is a fast-lane reader? 178
What is a Service Locator? 178
What is a session façade? 177
What is a value object pattern? 177
What is dooming a transaction? 171
What is the difference between Container Managed
Persistence (CMP) and Bean Managed Persistence
(BMP)? 168
What is the difference between EJB 1.1 and EJB 2.0? What
is the difference between EJB 2.x and EJB 3.0? 169
What is the difference between EJB and JavaBeans? 164
What is the difference between optimistic and pessimistic
concurrency control? 173
What is the difference between session and entity beans?
168
What is the difference between stateful and stateless
session beans? 168
What is the role of EJB 2.x in J2EE? 163
Enterprise - J2EE
Explain J2EE class loaders? 105
Explain MVC architecture relating to J2EE? 99
Explain the J2EE 3-tier or n-tier architecture? 97
So what is the difference between a component and a
service you may ask? 96
What are ear, war and jar files? What are J2EE Deployment
Descriptors? 101
What is J2EE? What are J2EE components and services?
95
What is the difference between a Web server and an
application server? 101
Why use design patterns in a J2EE application? 101
Enterprise - JDBC
Explain differences among java.util.Date, java.sql.Date,
java.sql.Time, and java.sql.Timestamp? 153
How to avoid the “running out of cursors” problem? 152
What are JDBC Statements? What are different types of
statements? How can you create them? 147
What is a Transaction? What does setAutoCommit do? 147
What is JDBC? How do you connect to a database? 145
What is the difference between JDBC-1.0 and JDBC-2.0?
What are Scrollable ResultSets, Updateable ResultSets,
RowSets, and Batch updates? 152
What is the difference between statements and prepared
statements? 153
Enterprise - JMS
Discuss some of the design decisions you need to make
regarding your message delivery? 186
Give an example of a J2EE application using Message
Driven Bean with JMS? 189
How JMS is different from RPC? 180
What are some of the key message characteristics defined
in a message header? 184
What is Message Oriented Middleware? What is JMS? 180
What type of messaging is provided by JMS? 185
Enterprise - JNDI & LDAP
Explain the difference between the look up of “java
comp/env/ejb/MyBean” and “ejb/MyBean”? 156
Explain the RMI architecture? 159
How will you pass parameters in RMI? 161
What are the differences between RMI and a socket? 161
What are the services provided by the RMI Object? 161
What is a JNDI InitialContext? 156
What is a remote object? Why should we extend
UnicastRemoteObject? 160
What is an LDAP server? And what is it used for in an
enterprise environment? 156
What is HTTP tunnelling or how do you make RMI calls
across firewalls? 161
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What is JNDI? And what are the typical uses within a J2EE
application? 155
What is the difference between RMI and CORBA? 161
Why use LDAP when you can do the same with relational
database (RDBMS)? 157
Enterprise - JSP
Explain hidden and output comments? 139
Explain the life cycle methods of a JSP? 133
How will you avoid scriptlet code in JSP? 144
Is JSP variable declaration thread safe? 139
Tell me about JSP best practices? 143
What are custom tags? Explain how to build custom tags?
140
What are implicit objects and list them? 137
What are the differences between static and a dynamic
include? 137
What are the different scope values or what are the
different scope values for <jsp
usebean> ? 137
What are the main elements of JSP? What are scriplets?
What are expressions? 134
What is a JSP? What is it used for? What do you
understand by the term JSP translation phase or
compilation phase? 126
What is a TagExtraInfo class? 142
What is the difference between custom JSP tags and
Javabeans? 142
Enterprise - Logging, testing and deployment
Enterprise - Logging, testing and deployment 226
Give an overview of log4J? 225
How do you initialize and use Log4J? 225
What is the hidden cost of parameter construction when
using Log4J? 225
What is the test phases and cycles? 226
Enterprise - Personal
Have you used any load testing tools? 228
Tell me about yourself or about some of the recent projects
you have worked with? What do you consider your most
significant achievement? Why do you think you are
qualified for this position? Why should we hire you and
what kind of contributions will you make? 228
What operating systems are you comfortable with? 228, 229
What source control systems have you used? 228
Which on-line technical resources do you use to resolve
any design and/or development issues? 229
Enterprise - RUP & UML
Explain the 4 phases of RUP? 206
What are the characteristics of RUP? Where can you use
RUP? 208
What are the different types of UML diagrams? 208
What is RUP? 206
What is the difference between a collaboration diagram and
a sequence diagram? 213
What is the difference between aggregation and
composition? 213
When to use ‘use case’ diagrams? 209
When to use activity diagrams? 213
When to use class diagrams? 209
When to use interaction diagrams? 211
When to use object diagrams? 210
When to use package diagrams? 210
When to use statechart diagram? 212
Why is UML important? 208
Enterprise - Servlet
Briefly discuss the following patterns Composite view, View
helper, Dispatcher view and Service to worker? Or
explain J2EE design patterns? 123
Explain declarative security for Web applications? 122
Explain Servlet URL mapping? 125
Explain the directory structure of a Web application? 114
Explain the Front Controller design pattern or explain J2EE
design patterns? 122
Explain the life cycle methods of a servlet? 113
How do you get your servlet to stop timing out on a really
long database query? 118
How do you make a Servlet thread safe? What do you need
to be concerned about with storing data in Servlet
instance fields? 117
How would you get the browser to request for an updated
page in 10 seconds? 109
HTTP is a stateless protocol, so, how do you maintain
state? How do you store user data between requests?
110
If an object is stored in a session and subsequently you
change the state of the object, will this state change
replicated to all the other distributed sessions in the
cluster? 121
What are the considerations for servlet clustering? 120
What are the different scopes or places where a servlet can
save data for its processing? 110
What are the ServletContext and ServletConfig objects?
What are Servlet environment objects? 115
What are the two objects a servlet receives when it accepts
a call from its client? 109
What can you do in your Servlet/JSP code to tell browser
not to cache the pages? 109
What is a filter, and how does it work? 121
What is a RequestDispatcher? What object do you use to
forward a request? 119
What is pre-initialization of a Servlet? 119
What is the difference between CGI and Servlet? 108
What is the difference between doGet () and doPost () or
GET and POST? 115
What is the difference between forwarding a request and
redirecting a request? 119
What is the difference between HttpServlet and
GenericServlet? 116
What is the difference between request parameters and
request attributes? 109
Which code line should be set in a response object before
using the PrintWriter or the OutputStream? 110
Enterprise - Software development process
What software development processes/principles are you
familiar with? 230
Enterprise - SQL, Tuning and O/R mapping
Explain a sub-query? How does a sub-query impact on
performance? 198
Explain inner and outer joins? 197
How can you performance tune your database? 199
How do you implement one-to-one, one-to-many and manyto-
many relationships while designing tables? 199
How do you map inheritance class structure to relational
data model? 201
How will you map objects to a relational database? How will
you map class inheritance to relational data model? 200
What is a view? Why will you use a view? What is an
aggregate function? 201
What is normalization? When to denormalize? 199
Enterprise - Struts
Are Struts action classes thread-safe? 216
Give an overview of Struts? 214
How do you implement internationalization in Struts? 216
How do you upload a file in Struts? 216
What design patterns are used in Struts? 217
What is a synchronizer token pattern in Struts or how will
you protect your Web against multiple submissions? 215
What is an action mapping in Struts? How will you extend
Struts? 217
Enterprise - Web and Application servers
Explain Java Management Extensions (JMX)? 219
What application servers, Web servers, LDAP servers, and
Database servers have you used? 218
What is a virtual host? 218
What is application server clustering? 219
What is the difference between a Web server and an
application server? 218
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Enterprise - Web and Applications servers
Explain some of the portability issues between different
application servers? 220
Enterprise - XML
Explain where your project needed XML documents? 196
How do you write comments in an XML document? 195
What is a CDATA section in an XML? 194
What is a namespace in an XML document? 195
What is a valid XML document? 195
What is a version information in XML? 194
What is a well-formed XML document? 195
What is the difference between a SAX parser and a DOM
parser? 190
What is XML? And why is XML important? 190
What is XPATH? What is XSLT/XSL/XSL-FO/XSD/DTD
etc? What is JAXB? What is JAXP? 191
What is your favorite XML framework or a tool? 196
Which is better to store data as elements or as attributes?
191
Why use an XML document as opposed to other types of
documents like a text file etc? 196
How would you go about...?
How would you go about applying the design patterns in
your Java/J2EE application? 253
How would you go about applying the Object Oriented (OO)
design concepts in your Java/J2EE application? 247
How would you go about applying the UML diagrams in
your Java/J2EE project? 249
How would you go about describing the open source
projects like JUnit (unit testing), Ant (build tool), CVS
(version control system) and log4J (logging tool) which
are integral part of most Java/J2EE projects? 292
How would you go about describing the software
development processes you are familiar with? 251
How would you go about describing Web services? 3, 299
How would you go about designing a Java/J2EE
application? 240
How would you go about designing a Web application
where the business tier is on a separate machine from
the presentation tier. The business tier should talk to 2
different databases and your design should point out the
different design patterns? 286
How would you go about determining the enterprise
security requirements for yor Java/J2EE application?287
How would you go about documenting your Java/J2EE
application? 239
How would you go about identifying any potential threadsafety
issues in your Java/J2EE application? 245
How would you go about identifying any potential
transactional issues in your Java/J2EE application? 246
How would you go about identifying performance and/or
memory issues in your Java/J2EE application? 243
How would you go about improving performance in your
Java/J2EE application? 244
How would you go about minimizing memory leaks in your
Java/J2EE application? 244
Java
Briefly explain high-level thread states? 58
Discuss the Java error handling mechanism? What is the
difference between Runtime (unchecked) exceptions
and checked exceptions? What is the implication of
catching all the exceptions with the type “Exception”? 53
Explain different ways of creating a thread? 57
Explain Java class loaders? Explain dynamic class loading?
15
Explain Outer and Inner classes (or Nested classes) in
Java? When will you use an Inner Class? 49
Explain some of the new features in J2SE 5.0, which
improves ease of development 65
Explain static vs dynamic class loading? 16
Explain the assertion construct? 24
Explain the Java Collections Framework? 26
Explain the Java I/O streaming concept and the use of the
decorator design pattern in Java I/O? 42
Explain threads blocking on I/O? 61
Give a few reasons for using Java? 14
Give an example where you might use a static method? 46
How can threads communicate with each other? How would
you implement a producer (one thread) and a consumer
(another thread) passing data (via stack)? 59
How can you improve Java I/O performance? 44
How do you express an ‘is a’ relationship and a ‘has a’
relationship or explain inheritance and composition?
What is the difference between composition and
aggregation? 18
How does Java allocate stack and heap memory? Explain
re-entrant, recursive and idempotent
methods/functions? 48
How does the Object Oriented approach improve software
development? 18
How does thread synchronization occurs inside a monitor?
What levels of synchronization can you apply? What is
the difference between synchronized method and
synchronized block? 58
How will you call a Web server from a stand alone Java
application? 64
If 2 different threads hit 2 different synchronized methods in
an object at the same time will they both continue? 61
If you have a circular reference of objects, but you no
longer reference it from an execution thread, will this
object be a potential candidate for garbage collection?
53
What are “static initializers” or “static blocks with no function
names”? 17
What are access modifiers? 46
What are some of the best practices relating to Java
collection? 30
What are the advantages of Object Oriented Programming
Languages (OOPL)? 18
What are the benefits of the Java Collections Framework?
29
What are the flow control statements in Java 55
What are the non-final methods in Java Object class, which
are meant primarily for extension? 34
What are the usages of Java packages? 15
What do you know about the Java garbage collector? When
does the garbage collection occur? Explain different
types of references in Java? 51
What do you mean by polymorphism, inheritance,
encapsulation, and dynamic binding? 19
What is a daemon thread? 59
What is a factory pattern? 62
What is a final modifier? Explain other Java modifiers? 46
What is a singleton pattern? How do you code it in Java? 61
What is a socket? How do you facilitate inter process
communication in Java? 64
What is a user defined exception? 55
What is design by contract? Explain the assertion
construct? 22
What is serialization? How would you exclude a field of a
class from serialization or what is a transient variable?
What is the common use? 41
What is the difference between “==” and equals(…)
method? What is the difference between shallow
comparison and deep comparison of objects? 33
What is the difference between aggregation and
composition? 19
What is the difference between an abstract class and an
interface and when should you use them? 24
What is the difference between an instance variable and a
static variable? Give an example where you might use a
static variable? 46
What is the difference between C++ and Java? 14
What is the difference between constructors and other
regular methods? What happens if you do not provide a
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constructor? Can you call one constructor from another?
How do you call the superclass’ constructor? 17
What is the difference between final, finally and finalize() in
Java? 47
What is the difference between processes and threads? 56
What is the difference between yield and sleeping? 58
What is the main difference between a String and a
StringBuffer class? 38
What is the main difference between an ArrayList and a
Vector? What is the main difference between HashMap
and Hashtable? 25
What is the main difference between pass-by-reference and
pass-by-value? 40
What is the main difference between shallow cloning and
deep cloning of objects? 45
What is the main difference between the Java platform and
the other software platforms? 14
What is type casting? Explain up casting vs down casting?
When do you get ClassCastException? 50
When is a method said to be overloaded and when is a
method said to be overridden? 25
When providing a user defined key class for storing objects
in the HashMaps or Hashtables, what methods do you
have to provide or override (i.e. method overriding)? 36
When should you use a checked exception and when
should you use an unchecked exception 55
When to use an abstract class? 25
When to use an interface? 25
Where and how can you use a private constructor? 46
Why is it not advisable to catch type “Exception”? 54
Why should you catch a checked exception late in a catch
{} block? 55
Why should you throw an exception early? 54
Why there are some interfaces with no defined methods
(i.e. marker interfaces) in Java? 25
Why would you prefer a short circuit “&&, ||” operators over
logical “& , |” operators 47
Java - Applet
How will you communicate between two Applets? 76
How will you initialize an applet? 76
How would you communicate between applets and
servlets? 76
What is a signed Applet? 76
What is the difference between an applet and an
application? 77
What is the order of method invocation in an applet? 76
Java - Performance and Memory issues
How would you detect and minimize memory leaks in Java?
81
How would you improve performance of a Java application?
78
Why does the JVM crash with a core dump or a Dr.Watson
error? 81
Java - Personal
Did you have to use any design patterns in your Java
project? 83
Do you have any role models in software development? 88
How do you handle pressure? Do you like or dislike these
situations? 85
Java – Behaving right in an interview 89
Tell me about yourself or about some of the recent projects
you have worked with? What do you consider your most
significant achievement? Why do you think you are
qualified for this position? Why should we hire you and
what kind of contributions will you make? 83
What are your career goals? Where do you see yourself in
5-10 years? 85
What do you like and/or dislike most about your current
and/or last position? 84
What past accomplishments gave you satisfaction? What
makes you want to work hard? 88
What was the last Java related book or article you read? 87
Which Java related website(s) or resource(s) do you use to
keep your knowledge up to date beyond Google 88
Why are you leaving your current position? 84
Why do you want to work for us? 88
Java - Swing
Explain layout managers? 74
Explain the Swing Action architecture? 70
Explain the Swing delegation event model? 75
Explain the Swing event dispatcher mechanism? 73
How does Swing painting happen? How will you improve
the painting performance? 70
How will you go about building a Swing GUI client 69
If you add a component to the CENTER of a border layout,
which directions will the component stretch? 72
What do you understand by MVC as used in a JTable? 74
What is the base class for all Swing components? 72
What is the difference between AWT and Swing? 69
Java/J2EE - Personal
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Can you
describe a situation where you took initiative? Can you
describe a situation where you applied your problem
solving skills? 85
Key Points
Enterprise - Key Points 233
Java - Key Points 91
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