Saturday, September 20, 2008

Service oriented Architecture (SOA)

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) definition

A service-oriented architecture is essentially a collection of services. These services communicate with each other. The communication can involve either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. Some means of connecting services to each other is needed.

Service-oriented architectures are not a new thing. The first service-oriented architecture for many people in the past was with the use DCOM or Object Request Brokers (ORBs) based on the CORBA specification. For more on DCOM and CORBA, see Prior service-oriented architectures (new window).

Services

If a service-oriented architecture is to be effective, we need a clear understanding of the term service. A service is a function that is well-defined, self-contained, and does not depend on the context or state of other services. See Service (new window).

Connections

The technology of Web services (new window) is the most likely connection technology of service-oriented architectures. Web services essentially use XML (new window) to create a robust connection.

The following figure illustrates a basic service-oriented architecture. It shows a service consumer at the right sending a service request message to a service provider at the left. The service provider returns a response message to the service consumer. The request and subsequent response connections are defined in some way that is understandable to both the service consumer and service provider. How those connections are defined is explained in Web Services explained (new window). A service provider can also be a service consumer.

Service-oriented architecture

Oracle Interview Question with Answers

Oracle Interview Questions and Answers : SQL

1. To see current user name
Sql> show user;

2. Change SQL prompt name
SQL> set sqlprompt “Manimara > “
Manimara >
Manimara >

3. Switch to DOS prompt
SQL> host

4. How do I eliminate the duplicate rows ?
SQL> delete from table_name where rowid not in (select max(rowid) from table group by duplicate_values_field_name);
or
SQL> delete duplicate_values_field_name dv from table_name ta where rowid <(select min(rowid) from table_name tb where ta.dv=tb.dv); Example. Table Emp Empno Ename 101 Scott 102 Jiyo 103 Millor 104 Jiyo 105 Smith delete ename from emp a where rowid < ( select min(rowid) from emp b where a.ename = b.ename); The output like, Empno Ename 101 Scott 102 Millor 103 Jiyo 104 Smith 5. How do I display row number with records? To achive this use rownum pseudocolumn with query, like SQL> SQL> select rownum, ename from emp;
Output:
1 Scott
2 Millor
3 Jiyo
4 Smith

6. Display the records between two range
select rownum, empno, ename from emp where rowid in
(select rowid from emp where rownum <=&upto minus select rowid from emp where rownum<&Start); Enter value for upto: 10 Enter value for Start: 7 ROWNUM EMPNO ENAME --------- --------- ---------- 1 7782 CLARK 2 7788 SCOTT 3 7839 KING 4 7844 TURNER 7. I know the nvl function only allows the same data type(ie. number or char or date Nvl(comm, 0)), if commission is null then the text “Not Applicable” want to display, instead of blank space. How do I write the query? SQL> select nvl(to_char(comm.),'NA') from emp;

Output :

NVL(TO_CHAR(COMM),'NA')
-----------------------
NA
300
500
NA
1400
NA
NA

8. Oracle cursor : Implicit & Explicit cursors
Oracle uses work areas called private SQL areas to create SQL statements.
PL/SQL construct to identify each and every work are used, is called as Cursor.
For SQL queries returning a single row, PL/SQL declares all implicit cursors.
For queries that returning more than one row, the cursor needs to be explicitly declared.

9. Explicit Cursor attributes
There are four cursor attributes used in Oracle
cursor_name%Found, cursor_name%NOTFOUND, cursor_name%ROWCOUNT, cursor_name%ISOPEN

10. Implicit Cursor attributes
Same as explicit cursor but prefixed by the word SQL

SQL%Found, SQL%NOTFOUND, SQL%ROWCOUNT, SQL%ISOPEN

Tips : 1. Here SQL%ISOPEN is false, because oracle automatically closed the implicit cursor after executing SQL statements.
: 2. All are Boolean attributes.

11. Find out nth highest salary from emp table
SELECT DISTINCT (a.sal) FROM EMP A WHERE &N = (SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT (b.sal)) FROM EMP B WHERE a.sal<=b.sal); Enter value for n: 2 SAL --------- 3700 12. To view installed Oracle version information SQL> select banner from v$version;

13. Display the number value in Words
SQL> select sal, (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'jsp'))
from emp;
the output like,

SAL (TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(SAL,'J'),'JSP'))
--------- -----------------------------------------------------
800 eight hundred
1600 one thousand six hundred
1250 one thousand two hundred fifty
If you want to add some text like,
Rs. Three Thousand only.
SQL> select sal "Salary ",
(' Rs. '|| (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'Jsp'))|| ' only.'))
"Sal in Words" from emp
/
Salary Sal in Words
------- ------------------------------------------------------
800 Rs. Eight Hundred only.
1600 Rs. One Thousand Six Hundred only.
1250 Rs. One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty only.

14. Display Odd/ Even number of records
Odd number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,1) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp);
1
3
5
Even number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,0) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp)
2
4
6

15. Which date function returns number value?
months_between

16. Any three PL/SQL Exceptions?
Too_many_rows, No_Data_Found, Value_Error, Zero_Error, Others

17. What are PL/SQL Cursor Exceptions?
Cursor_Already_Open, Invalid_Cursor

18. Other way to replace query result null value with a text
SQL> Set NULL ‘N/A’
to reset SQL> Set NULL ‘’

19. What are the more common pseudo-columns?
SYSDATE, USER , UID, CURVAL, NEXTVAL, ROWID, ROWNUM

20. What is the output of SIGN function?
1 for positive value,
0 for Zero,
-1 for Negative value.

21. What is the maximum number of triggers, can apply to a single table?
12 triggers.

More Oracle Questions

What is a CO-RELATED SUBQUERY

A CO-RELATED SUBQUERY is one that has a correlation name as table or view designator in the FROM clause of the outer query and the same correlation name as a qualifier of a search condition in the WHERE clause of the subquery.
2. eg
3. SELECT field1 from table1 X
4. WHERE field2>(select avg(field2) from table1 Y
5. where
field1=X.field1);
(The subquery in a correlated subquery is revaluated for every row of the table or view named in the outer query.)

What are various joins used while writing SUBQUERIES

Self join-Its a join foreign key of a table references the same table.
Outer Join–Its a join condition used where One can query all the rows of one of the tables in the join condition even though they don’t satisfy the join condition.
Equi-join–Its a join condition that retrieves rows from one or more tables in which one or more columns in one table are equal to one or more columns in the second table.

What are various constraints used in SQL

NULL
NOT NULL
CHECK
DEFAULT

What are different Oracle database objects

TABLES
VIEWS
INDEXES
SYNONYMS
SEQUENCES
TABLESPACES etc

What is difference between Rename and Alias

Rename is a permanent name given to a table or column whereas Alias is a temporary name given to a table or column which do not exist once the SQL statement is executed.

What is a view

A view is stored procedure based on one or more tables, its a virtual table.

What are various privileges that a user can grant to another user

SELECT
CONNECT
RESOURCE

What is difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints

A table can have only one PRIMARY KEY whereas there can be any number of UNIQUE keys. The columns that compose PK are automatically define NOT NULL, whereas a column that compose a UNIQUE is not automatically defined to be mandatory must also specify the column is NOT NULL.

Can a primary key contain more than one columns

Yes

How you will avoid duplicating records in a query

By using DISTINCT

What is difference between SQL and SQL*PLUS

SQL*PLUS is a command line tool where as SQL and PL/SQL language interface and reporting tool. Its a command line tool that allows user to type SQL commands to be executed directly against an Oracle database. SQL is a language used to query the relational database(DML,DCL,DDL). SQL*PLUS commands are used to format query result, Set options, Edit SQL commands and PL/SQL.

Which datatype is used for storing graphics and images

LONG RAW data type is used for storing BLOB’s (binary large objects).

How will you delete duplicating rows from a base table

DELETE FROM table_name A WHERE rowid>(SELECT min(rowid) from table_name B where B.table_no=A.table_no);
CREATE TABLE new_table AS SELECT DISTINCT * FROM old_table;
DROP old_table RENAME new_table TO old_table DELETE FROM table_name A WHERE rowid NOT IN (SELECT MAX(ROWID) FROM table_name GROUP BY column_name)

What is difference between SUBSTR and INSTR

SUBSTR returns a specified portion of a string eg SUBSTR(’BCDEF’,4) output BCDE INSTR provides character position in which a pattern is found in a string. eg INSTR(’ABC-DC-F’,'-’,2) output 7 (2nd occurence of ‘-’ )

Writing Facebook Applications Using Java EE

Introduction

Facebook is a popular social networking platform where people connect with family, friends, and like-minded individuals and engage in a variety of possible online activities. A large variety of these activities are made possible through so-called Facebook applications. These applications make use of the Facebook web services and APIs to integrate with the Facebook site, access the Facebook user's social information, and extend Facebook's social platform.

The Facebook Application Model

Facebook uses a proxy server model to allow web developers to integrate to its platform. With the proxy server model, Facebook can open its platform to developers through REST web services, and can provide APIs with high integrability to the Facebook look and feel, without needing to provide hosting services for each and every third-party application. Developers are also free to engineer their applications as they wish, choosing almost any technology they desire to write their app. This creates an even playing field for all developers, at least when it comes to development costs: Developers still need to deploy their apps in a way that can handle potentially millions of users per day. It is not uncommon for a popular Facebook app to grow to a million users within a single week.

The proxy model works like this:

  • Your Facebook application lives on your server; you register the base URL of your Facebook app with Facebook
  • When a user visits your application on Facebook, Facebook calls the corresponding URL on your server
  • Your app calls the Facebook API to get information about the user and their friends and to update the user's profile page
  • Your app uses information from its own database and session, and from the Facebook user data, and renders a page with the output from its action
  • In the case of a so-called FBML canvas page, Facebook turns FBML markup into HTML and Javascript
  • In the case of an iframe canvas page, Facebook wraps the output of your application in an HTML iframe
  • Facebook then returns your app's output to the user, wrapped in the Facebook navigation headers, footers and sidebars

First Steps

Writing Facebook applications using Java has proven difficult for many developers. The official Facebook Java libraries were often buggy and not updated as often as the official PHP libraries. To add insult to injury, nearly all official Facebook documentation and sample code (and a good deal of examples out on the blogosphere) are for PHP development. Luckily, a group of independent developers proceeded to implement their own improved and maintained clone of the Facebook API libraries for Java, removing one major obstacle for Java development. This article hopes to provide concise information about how to use these unofficial libraries to create a Facebook web application, and hopefully eliminate the last hurdle for Java developers.

Before beginning to write code, you must first sign up and log in to Facebook. Then, add the Facebook Developer Application to your user profile by visiting the following URL: http://www.facebook.com/developers/. The Facebook Developer Application is where developers request the API keys and the Facebook web address from which their application will be accessed. The Facebook Developer Application is also a public group where Facebook developers can help each other with the API and with proper use of the Facebook Developer App itself.

Figure 1: Facebook sign-up page

Figure 2: Facebok Developer Application at http://www.facebook.com/developers/

Once you have added the Facebook Developer Application, you can register your intended web application with Facebook. Don't worry that you don't have an application deployed yet; the information you will fill in is quite basic and will help organize how the app is developed. To begin, click the "Setup New Application" button on the Facebook Developer App page. This will open the "New Application" page on Facebook.

Figure 3: Facebok's "New Application" page

Follow these steps to fill out the "New Application" page with basic values:

  1. Fill the "Application Name." This is what you want your application to be known as among users. Facebook will use this name when reporting user activity with your app on users' "Mini Feed."
  2. Read the "Terms and Conditions" and check the checkbox if you agree with them.
  3. Click the link named "Optional Fields" to open the form up and show the other fields.

The next fields are optional for the simplest of Facebook apps, but for most types of applications, you want to fill out at least "Callback URL" and "Canvas Page URL" and leave the rest at their default values. Without those two fields filled, you can only create a so-called external Facebook app. External Facebook apps can only be accessed from a domain different from *.facebook.com, but the app can still access Facebook users' social network information through the API.

  1. In the two e-mail fields, you can enter your e-mail address, but they can be blank during development.
  2. The "Callback URL" field needs to be filled with the base path URL to your application on your development server. All application actions and pages are relative to this URL.
    • What you enter here is specific for your own setup, but to be clear, you should not put "http://localhost:8080/myfacebookapp". This needs to be an address that Facebook servers can reach through the Internet, not a local network address. This means that if you are following along from home, developing on your home computer, you need to find what your external IP address is, and open your application server's HTTP port in your firewall. This is fine for at-home development and experimentation with the API, but you will need to find a hosting solution for "going live" with your Facebook applications.
    • This URL needs to have a servlet or web framework action mapped to it, with the URL pattern set to the root of the web app ("/" or the slash.) We will do this for our example later on.
  3. The "Canvas Page URL" refers to the base path URL on the apps.facebook.com subdomain where users go to access your app. All application actions and pages are relative to this URL.
  4. For this introduction, you will choose FBML as your application's rendering method.
    • Whether you choose to have your application rendered as an FBML canvas or iframe canvas is a matter of whether you will be using a lot of JavaScript effects, Ajax or Flash in your application's user interface (iframes), or whether you want to follow the Facebook look and feel as closely as possible with minimal effort (FBML.)
    • JSF, Facelets, and Tapestry developers should select iframe rendering.
  5. Select no to indicate your application can be added on Facebook. Selecting "yes" would mean the app will show on your users' profiles, helping your app spread as other users see information about your app on their friends' profiles. This is great once you are live, but you will turn it off during development.
  6. You can leave the Terms of Service URL blank for now.
  7. If you are developing the app with the help of other Facebook users, you can add them to the "Developers" field.

Now that the fields have been filled as outlined above, you can click "Submit." Facebook Developer App will take your input and take you to a page listing the apps you have registered with Facebook. Below your application's name, you will see an API key and a secret key for your application. Make note of these hex strings; you need them later when calling into the Facebook API.

Figure 4: Facebok's Developer App, showing the newly created app's details (blacked in my example)

Preparing the Development Environment

Throughout the rest of the article, I will be using the Eclipse Web Tools Platform, Apache Tomcat 5.5 application server, and XDoclet 1.2.3. Setting up Eclipse and the Web Tools Platform plugin, XDoclet, and Tomcat is beyond the scope of this particular article. That said, if you have never used Eclipse before and want to work through this article with a minimum of fussing around with Eclipse, I recommend you download the EasyEclipse Server Java distribution of Eclipse and web development plugins, available at http://www.easyeclipse.org/site/distributions/server-java.html . You will still need to download and install Tomcat and XDoclet separately and set up Eclipse Web Tools Platform to work with them.

Once you have your development environment properly set up, create a new Dynamic Web Project called myfacebookapp by clicking the drop-down arrow next to the "New" button on the extreme left side of the Eclipse toolbar. Then, select "Project." When the "New Project" dialog box appears, select "Dynamic Web Project" from the "Web" project category. Then, click the "Next" button.

Figure 5: The "New" button pulldown menu, with "Project" selected

Figure 6: The "New Project" dialog box, with "Dynamic Web Project" selected

At the New Dynamic Web Project dialog box, fill in the project name as "myfacebookapp" and select your Java EE app server in the "Target Runtime" selection drop down, and "Dynamic Web Project with XDoclet" in the "Configurations" selection drop down. Then, click Finish.

Figure 7: The "New Dynamic Web Project" dialog box

Once you click Finish, Eclipse creates your Dynamic Web Project, and may ask whether you want to switch to the "J2EE Perspective." Once the project is created, you can see the myfacebookapp project in the "Project Explorer." Expand all of its folders to see the structure of your project.

Figure 8: The myfacebookapp project in the Project Explorer

Getting the Facebook Libraries

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a group of independent Java developers have produced an unofficial but excellent set of Facebook libraries for Java development. Go to http://code.google.com/p/facebook-java-api/ to learn more about the project. These libraries need at least Java SE 5. They will not work with Java SE 1.4 or earlier.

You need to download the following JARs:

If you're running your Java app server on top of Java SE 5, download the following JARs as well:

You don't need the three JARs above if you're running on Java SE 6 or later.

Download the libraries and copy them to the myfacebookapp/WebContent/WEB-INF/lib folder on your disk. Once you copy the libraries to the folder, right-click the myfacebookapp project icon in the Eclipse Project Explorer and select "Refresh." Expand the "Web App Libraries" folder and Eclipse will show you the Facebook library jar files.

Figure 9: The myfacebookapp project with the Facebook Java libraries added

Once this is done, you finally can begin coding a basic Facebook app.

A Facebook App in Two Parts: A Servlet and a JSP

To keep things simple, this app does not use any hot web frameworks and cool design patterns. You will write a simple "Model 2" Java EE application, just a servlet and JSP page per action. If you know how to write Java web applications with Struts, Spring MVC, WebWork, Tapestry, etcetera, you will be able to take this code and apply it to your Java web framework of choice. You have to know how to walk before you can run, and you'll do the servlet and JSP walk this once.

Continuing with Eclipse, right-click the "myfacebookapp" folder, and select the "New" menu item. Out of the many choices, select "Servlet." In the "Create Servlet" dialog box, write org.myfacebookapp in the "Java package" field and AbstractFacebookServlet in the "Class name" field. Click "Finish" to continue.

Figure 10: Right-click the project folder and select New -> Servlet

Figure 11: The "Create Servlet" dialog box

Eclipse will create a package in the "Java Resources: src" folder inside the project folder, and in this package you will find AbstractFacebookServlet.java. Eclipse will open AbstractFacebookServlet.java for you. Replace all of the code in it with the following:

Listing 1.1: AbstractFacebookServlet.java

package org.myfacebookapp;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.util.*;

import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.*;

import org.w3c.dom.Document;

import com.facebook.api.*;

/**
* Servlet implementation class for Servlet:
* AbstractFacebookServlet
*
*/
public class AbstractFacebookServlet
extends javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
implements javax.servlet.Servlet
{
protected static final String FB_APP_URL =
"http://apps.facebook.com/myfacebookapp/";

protected static final String FB_APP_ADD_URL =
"http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=";

protected static final String FB_API_KEY =
"your-api-key-goes-here";

private static final String FB_SECRET_KEY =
"your-secret-key-goes-here";

public AbstractFacebookServlet() {
super();
}

/*
* This method is used by all of the application's servlets
* (or web framework actions) to authenticate the app with
* Facebook.
*/
protected FacebookRestClient getAuthenticatedFacebookClient(
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
{
Facebook fb = new Facebook(request, response,
FB_API_KEY, FB_SECRET_KEY);

String next = request.getServletPath().substring(1);

if (fb.requireLogin(next)) return null;

return fb.getFacebookRestClient();
}
}

The getAuthenticatedFacebookClient() method above needs to be called before making any calls to the Facebook API through the FacebookRestClient. You could put the FacebookRestClient in the session object with the idea of authenticating less often, but you will find in practice that your stored FacebookRestClient will lose authentication even though your app session hasn't yet expired. Authenticating every time doesn't use that much more bandwidth because you're going to be calling back through the API anyhow to get information to process your users' requests.

Before you continue, replace the FB_API_KEY and FB_SECRET_KEY constants with the correct settings from your registered Facebook application (the last step from the section "First Steps").

Now, create another servlet, called MainPageServlet.java. Once you have the MainPageServlet.java created, replace the package, import statements, comment block, and class definition with this block of code:

package org.myfacebookapp;

import java.io.IOException;

import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.*;

import java.util.*;

import org.w3c.dom.Document;

import com.facebook.api.*;

/**
* Servlet implementation class for Servlet: MainPageServlet
*
* @web.servlet
* name="MainPageServlet"
* display-name="MainPageServlet"
*
* @web.servlet-mapping
* url-pattern="/"
*
*/
public class MainPageServlet extends AbstractFacebookServlet

Next, replace the MainPageServlet's doGet() and doPost() methods with the following code:



   protected void doGet(
HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
FacebookRestClient facebook =
getAuthenticatedFacebookClient(request, response);

if ( facebook != null) {
if ( getFacebookInfo(request, facebook) ) {
request.getRequestDispatcher(
"/main_page.jsp").forward(request, response);
}
}
}

protected void doPost(
HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
doGet(request, response);
}


The MainPageServlet's doGet() method gets the authenticated
FacebookRestClient immediately, and then calls a method called
getFacebookInfo(), which you will define shortly. If getFacebookInfo()
returns true, the code proceeds to redirect the server to
"/main_page.jsp." You also will define this JSP page shortly.



Continue fleshing out MainPageServlet's code. Insert this getFacebookInfo() method right after the doPost() method.



   /*
* This method obtains some basic Facebook profile
* information from the logged in user who is
* accessing our application in the current HTTP request.
*/
private boolean getFacebookInfo(
HttpServletRequest request,
FacebookRestClient facebook)
{
try {

long userID = facebook.users_getLoggedInUser();
Collection users = new ArrayList();
users.add(userID);

EnumSet fields = EnumSet.of (
com.facebook.api.ProfileField.NAME,
com.facebook.api.ProfileField.PIC);

Document d = facebook.users_getInfo(users, fields);
String name =
d.getElementsByTagName("name").item(0).getTextContent();
String picture =
d.getElementsByTagName("pic").item(0).getTextContent();

request.setAttribute("uid", userID);
request.setAttribute("profile_name", name);
request.setAttribute("profile_picture_url", picture);

} catch (FacebookException e) {

HttpSession session = request.getSession();
session.setAttribute("facebookSession", null);
return false;

} catch (IOException e) {

e.printStackTrace();
return false;
}
return true;
}


This piece of code is where the meat of the Facebook action is for
this example, so to speak. First, you get the user ID of the current
logged-in user, and add this to a collection called users. Then, you
define an emumeration set of Facebook API ProfileField types,
com.facebook.api.ProfileField.NAME and
com.facebook.api.ProfileField.PIC. You pass the users collection and
the ProfileField enumeration set to a Facebook API called
users_getInfo(). This returns an XML document with the profile name and
profile image URL of the user IDs in the users collection—the current
logged-in user. You parse out the and elements
out of the XML document, and store the user ID, profile name, and
picture URL as request parameters. You do this to allow main_page.jsp
to have access to this information as request scope beans.



Now, you get to the JSP part of the application. Create a JSP file called main_page.jsp, and insert in it the following code:



<%@ page language="java"
contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"
pageEncoding="UTF-8"
%>
myacebookapp Main Page







${profile_name}
,
you are special because you are using myfacebookapp!



This JSP page is straightforward and simple. It uses JSP Expression
Language to output the value of the request parameters "uid,"
"profile_name," and "profile_picture_url" you placed in the request in
the getFacebookInfo() method from MainPageServlet.java. Using these
values, it displays the users' name and profile picture, with links to
their profile, and congratulates them for using "myfacebookapp."


implements javax.servlet.Servlet {

Note that this servlet will extend from AbstractFacebookServlet, not from javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet. This will allow MainPageServlet to inherit getAuthenticatedFacebookClient(). The comment block is a set of XDoclet properties for servlet definitions in the web.xml document in the application's WEB-INF folder. This declares that MainPageServlet should be mapped to the root ("/" or the slash) of the web app's base URL.

Using Facebook Markup Language (FBML)

Using the Facebook API within your servlet or other Java web framework controllers and actions gives you plenty of power to create your web app. But, there is more to the Facebook API than calling web services to pull out user profile and friend information. With FBML, you can use a markup language created by Facebook to integrate more fully with their platform with a minimum of fuss. For example, replace the main_page.jsp with the following code.

<%@ page language="java"
contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"
pageEncoding="UTF-8"
%>
myacebookapp Main Page


size="small"
linked="true" />

useyou="false"
linked="true"
capitalize="true" />,
you are special because you are using myfacebookapp!

If you call main_page.jsp directly from your Facebook app's URL (for example, http://apps.facebook.com/myfbapp/main_page.jsp), you will see that these FBML tags produce the same output as the previous servlet and JSP EL example. Please also note that calling the JSP page directly means it didn't need to call getAuthenticatedFacebookClient() to authenticate with Facebook. These tags aren't JSTL tags. The FBML parsing occurs on Facebook's servers, where the user has already logged in (otherwise, they couldn't access your application on Facebook's URL). Facebook also has ready access to the logged in user's profile information.

Besides FBML, there are also FBJs for Ajax-like effects, and FBQL for querying user information in a SQL-like fashion, all within pages with tags. Combine FBML, FBJs, and FBQL with a powerful Java MVC framework, and you can create complex apps that integrate cleanly with the Facebook UI.

Conclusion

The Facebook social network is amazingly popular. To a great extent, the popularity of the service is a reflection of the popularity of the many applications created with the Facebook platform and its APIs. With improved libraries and example code, Java developers can hit the ground running and create more applications, to grow and extend the Facebook platform's reach with new ideas and social services.

Resources

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Core Java Interview Questions with Answers

1.what is a transient variable?

A transient variable is a variable that may not be serialized.

2.which containers use a border Layout as their default layout?

The window, Frame and Dialog classes use a border layout as their default layout.

3.Why do threads block on I/O?

Threads block on i/o (that is enters the waiting state) so that other threads may execute while the i/o Operation is performed.

4. How are Observer and Observable used?

Objects that subclass the Observable class maintain a list of observers. When an Observable object is updated it invokes the update() method of each of its observers to notify the observers that it has changed state. The Observer interface is implemented by objects that observe Observable objects.

5. What is synchronization and why is it important?

With respect to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to shared resources. Without synchronization, it is possible for one thread to modify a shared object while another thread is in the process of using or updating that object's value. This often leads to significant errors.

6. Can a lock be acquired on a class?

Yes, a lock can be acquired on a class. This lock is acquired on the class's Class object.

7. What's new with the stop(), suspend() and resume() methods in JDK 1.2?

The stop(), suspend() and resume() methods have been deprecated in JDK 1.2.

8. Is null a keyword?

The null value is not a keyword.

9. What is the preferred size of a component?

The preferred size of a component is the minimum component size that will allow the component to display normally.

10. What method is used to specify a container's layout?

The setLayout() method is used to specify a container's layout.

11. Which containers use a FlowLayout as their default layout?

The Panel and Applet classes use the FlowLayout as their default layout.

12. What state does a thread enter when it terminates its processing?

When a thread terminates its processing, it enters the dead state.

13. What is the Collections API?

The Collections API is a set of classes and interfaces that support operations on collections of objects.

14. Which characters may be used as the second character of an identifier, but not as the first character of an identifier?

The digits 0 through 9 may not be used as the first character of an identifier but they may be used after the first character of an identifier.

15. What is the List interface?

The List interface provides support for ordered collections of objects.

16. How does Java handle integer overflows and underflows?

It uses those low order bytes of the result that can fit into the size of the type allowed by the operation.

17. What is the Vector class?

The Vector class provides the capability to implement a growable array of objects

18. What modifiers may be used with an inner class that is a member of an outer class?

A (non-local) inner class may be declared as public, protected, private, static, final, or abstract.

19. What is an Iterator interface?

The Iterator interface is used to step through the elements of a Collection.

20. What is the difference between the >> and >>> operators?

The >> operator carries the sign bit when shifting right. The >>> zero-fills bits that have been shifted out.

21. Which method of the Component class is used to set the position and size of a component?

setBounds()

22. How many bits are used to represent Unicode, ASCII, UTF-16, and UTF-8 characters?

Unicode requires 16 bits and ASCII require 7 bits. Although the ASCII character set uses only 7 bits, it is usually represented as 8 bits. UTF-8 represents characters using 8, 16, and 18 bit patterns. UTF-16 uses 16-bit and larger bit patterns.

23What is the difference between yielding and sleeping?

When a task invokes its yield() method, it returns to the ready state. When a task invokes its sleep() method, it returns to the waiting state.

24. Which java.util classes and interfaces support event handling?

The EventObject class and the EventListener interface support event processing.

25. Is sizeof a keyword?

The sizeof operator is not a keyword.

26. What are wrapped classes?

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

27. Does garbage collection guarantee that a program will not run out of memory?

Garbage collection does not guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. It is possible for programs to use up memory resources faster than they are garbage collected. It is also possible for programs to create objects that are not subject to garbage collection

28. What restrictions are placed on the location of a package statement within a source code file?

A package statement must appear as the first line in a source code file (excluding blank lines and comments).

29. Can an object's finalize() method be invoked while it is reachable?

An object's finalize() method cannot be invoked by the garbage collector while the object is still reachable. However, an object's finalize() method may be invoked by other objects.

30. What is the immediate superclass of the Applet class?

Panel

31. What is the difference between preemptive scheduling and time slicing?

Under preemptive scheduling, the highest priority task executes until it enters the waiting or dead states or a higher priority task comes into existence. Under time slicing, a task executes for a predefined slice of time and then reenters the pool of ready tasks. The scheduler then determines which task should execute next, based on priority and other factors.

32. Name three Component subclasses that support painting.

The Canvas, Frame, Panel, and Applet classes support painting.

33. What value does readLine() return when it has reached the end of a file?

The readLine() method returns null when it has reached the end of a file.

34. What is the immediate superclass of the Dialog class?

Window

35. What is clipping?

Clipping is the process of confining paint operations to a limited area or shape.

36. What is a native method?

A native method is a method that is implemented in a language other than Java.

37. Can a for statement loop indefinitely?

Yes, a for statement can loop indefinitely. For example, consider the following: for(;;) ;

38. What are order of precedence and associativity, and how are they used?

Order of precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated in expressions. Associatity determines whether an expression is evaluated left-to-right or right-to-left

39. When a thread blocks on I/O, what state does it enter?

A thread enters the waiting state when it blocks on I/O.

40. To what value is a variable of the String type automatically initialized?

The default value of an String type is null.

41. What is the catch or declare rule for method declarations?

If a checked exception may be thrown within the body of a method, the method must either catch the exception or declare it in its throws clause.

42. What is the difference between a MenuItem and a CheckboxMenuItem?

The CheckboxMenuItem class extends the MenuItem class to support a menu item that may be checked or unchecked.

43. What is a task's priority and how is it used in scheduling?

A task's priority is an integer value that identifies the relative order in which it should be executed with respect to other tasks. The scheduler attempts to schedule higher priority tasks before lower priority tasks.

44. What class is the top of the AWT event hierarchy?

The java.awt.AWTEvent class is the highest-level class in the AWT event-class hierarchy.

45. When a thread is created and started, what is its initial state?

A thread is in the ready state after it has been created and started.

46. Can an anonymous class be declared as implementing an interface and extending a class?

An anonymous class may implement an interface or extend a superclass, but may not be declared to do both.

47. What is the range of the short type?

The range of the short type is -(2^15) to 2^15 - 1.

48. What is the range of the char type?

The range of the char type is 0 to 2^16 - 1.

49. In which package are most of the AWT events that support the event-delegation model defined?

Most of the AWT-related events of the event-delegation model are defined in the java.awt.event package. The AWTEvent class is defined in the java.awt package.

50. What is the immediate superclass of Menu?

MenuItem

51. What is the purpose of finalization?

The purpose of finalization is to give an unreachable object the opportunity to perform any cleanup processing before the object is garbage collected.

52. Which class is the immediate superclass of the MenuComponent class.

Object

53. What invokes a thread's run() method?

After a thread is started, via its start() method or that of the Thread class, the JVM invokes the thread's run() method when the thread is initially executed.

54. What is the difference between the Boolean & operator and the && operator?

If an expression involving the Boolean & operator is evaluated, both operands are evaluated. Then the & operator is applied to the operand. When an expression involving the && operator is evaluated, the first operand is evaluated. If the first operand returns a value of true then the second operand is evaluated. The && operator is then applied to the first and second operands. If the first operand evaluates to false, the evaluation of the second operand is skipped.

55. Name three subclasses of the Component class.

Box.Filler, Button, Canvas, Checkbox, Choice, Container, Label, List, Scrollbar, or TextComponent

56. What is the GregorianCalendar class?

The GregorianCalendar provides support for traditional Western calendars.

57. Which Container method is used to cause a container to be laid out and redisplayed?

validate()

58. What is the purpose of the Runtime class?

The purpose of the Runtime class is to provide access to the Java runtime system.

59. How many times may an object's finalize() method be invoked by the garbage collector?

An object's finalize() method may only be invoked once by the garbage collector.

60. What is the purpose of the finally clause of a try-catch-finally statement?

The finally clause is used to provide the capability to execute code no matter whether or not an exception is thrown or caught.

61. What is the argument type of a program's main() method?

A program's main() method takes an argument of the String[] type.

62. Which Java operator is right associative?

The = operator is right associative.

63. What is the Locale class?

The Locale class is used to tailor program output to the conventions of a particular geographic, political, or cultural region.

64. Can a double value be cast to a byte?

Yes, a double value can be cast to a byte.

65. What is the difference between a break statement and a continue statement?

A break statement results in the termination of the statement to which it applies (switch, for, do, or while). A continue statement is used to end the current loop iteration and return control to the loop statement.

66. What must a class do to implement an interface?

It must provide all of the methods in the interface and identify the interface in its implements clause.

67. What method is invoked to cause an object to begin executing as a separate thread?

The start() method of the Thread class is invoked to cause an object to begin executing as a separate thread.

68. Name two subclasses of the TextComponent class.

TextField and TextArea

69. What is the advantage of the event-delegation model over the earlier event-inheritance model?

The event-delegation model has two advantages over the event-inheritance model. First, it enables event handling to be handled by objects other than the ones that generate the events (or their containers). This allows a clean separation between a component's design and its use. The other advantage of the event-delegation model is that it performs much better in applications where many events are generated. This performance improvement is due to the fact that the event-delegation model does not have to repeatedly process unhandled events, as is the case of the event-inheritance model.

70. Which containers may have a MenuBar?

Frame

71. How are commas used in the intialization and iteration parts of a for statement?

Commas are used to separate multiple statements within the initialization and iteration parts of a for statement.

72. What is the purpose of the wait(), notify(), and notifyAll() methods?

The wait(),notify(), and notifyAll() methods are used to provide an efficient way for threads to wait for a shared resource. When a thread executes an object's wait() method, it enters the waiting state. It only enters the ready state after another thread invokes the object's notify() or notifyAll() methods.

73. What is an abstract method?

An abstract method is a method whose implementation is deferred to a subclass.

74. How are Java source code files named?

A Java source code file takes the name of a public class or interface that is defined within the file. A source code file may contain at most one public class or interface. If a public class or interface is defined within a source code file, then the source code file must take the name of the public class or interface. If no public class or interface is defined within a source code file, then the file must take on a name that is different than its classes and interfaces. Source code files use the .java extension.

75. What is the relationship between the Canvas class and the Graphics class?

A Canvas object provides access to a Graphics object via its paint() method.

76. What are the high-level thread states?

The high-level thread states are ready, running, waiting, and dead.

77. What value does read() return when it has reached the end of a file?

The read() method returns -1 when it has reached the end of a file.

78. Can a Byte object be cast to a double value?

No, an object cannot be cast to a primitive value.

79. What is the difference between a static and a non-static inner class?

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

80. What is the difference between the String and StringBuffer classes?

String objects are constants. StringBuffer objects are not.

81. If a variable is declared as private, where may the variable be accessed?

A private variable may only be accessed within the class in which it is declared.

82. What is an object's lock and which object's have locks?

An object's lock is a mechanism that is used by multiple threads to obtain synchronized access to the object. A thread may execute a synchronized method of an object only after it has acquired the object's lock. All objects and classes have locks. A class's lock is acquired on the class's Class object.

83. What is the Dictionary class?

The Dictionary class provides the capability to store key-value pairs.

84. How are the elements of a BorderLayout organized?

The elements of a BorderLayout are organized at the borders (North, South, East, and West) and the center of a container.

85. What is the % operator?

It is referred to as the modulo or remainder operator. It returns the remainder of dividing the first operand by the second operand.

86. When can an object reference be cast to an interface reference?

An object reference be cast to an interface reference when the object implements the referenced interface.

87. What is the difference between a Window and a Frame?

The Frame class extends Window to define a main application window that can have a menu bar.

88. Which class is extended by all other classes?

The Object class is extended by all other classes.

89. Can an object be garbage collected while it is still reachable?

A reachable object cannot be garbage collected. Only unreachable objects may be garbage collected..

90. Is the ternary operator written x : y ? z or x ? y : z ?

It is written x ? y : z.

91. What is the difference between the Font and FontMetrics classes?

The FontMetrics class is used to define implementation-specific properties, such as ascent and descent, of a Font object.

92. How is rounding performed under integer division?

The fractional part of the result is truncated. This is known as rounding toward zero.

93. What happens when a thread cannot acquire a lock on an object?

If a thread attempts to execute a synchronized method or synchronized statement and is unable to acquire an object's lock, it enters the waiting state until the lock becomes available.

94. What is the difference between the Reader/Writer class hierarchy and the InputStream/OutputStream class hierarchy?

The Reader/Writer class hierarchy is character-oriented, and the InputStream/OutputStream class hierarchy is byte-oriented.

95. What classes of exceptions may be caught by a catch clause?

A catch clause can catch any exception that may be assigned to the Throwable type. This includes the Error and Exception types.

96. If a class is declared without any access modifiers, where may the class be accessed?

A class that is declared without any access modifiers is said to have package access. This means that the class can only be accessed by other classes and interfaces that are defined within the same package.

97. What is the SimpleTimeZone class?

The SimpleTimeZone class provides support for a Gregorian calendar.

98. What is the Map interface?

The Map interface replaces the JDK 1.1 Dictionary class and is used associate keys with values.

99. Does a class inherit the constructors of its superclass?

A class does not inherit constructors from any of its superclasses.

100. For which statements does it make sense to use a label?


The only statements for which it makes sense to use a label are those statements that can enclose a break or continue statement.

101. What is the purpose of the System class?

The purpose of the System class is to provide access to system resources.

102. Which TextComponent method is used to set a TextComponent to the read-only state?

setEditable()

103. How are the elements of a CardLayout organized?

The elements of a CardLayout are stacked, one on top of the other, like a deck of cards.

104. Is &&= a valid Java operator?

No, it is not.

105. Name the eight primitive Java types.

The eight primitive types are byte, char, short, int, long, float, double, and boolean.

106. Which class should you use to obtain design information about an object?

The Class class is used to obtain information about an object's design.

107. What is the relationship between clipping and repainting?

When a window is repainted by the AWT painting thread, it sets the clipping regions to the area of the window that requires repainting.

108. Is "abc" a primitive value?

The String literal "abc" is not a primitive value. It is a String object.

109. What is the relationship between an event-listener interface and an event-adapter class?

An event-listener interface defines the methods that must be implemented by an event handler for a particular kind of event. An event adapter provides a default implementation of an event-listener interface.

110. What restrictions are placed on the values of each case of a switch statement?

During compilation, the values of each case of a switch statement must evaluate to a value that can be promoted to an int value.

111. What modifiers may be used with an interface declaration?

An interface may be declared as public or abstract.

112. Is a class a subclass of itself?

A class is a subclass of itself.

113. What is the highest-level event class of the event-delegation model?

The java.util.EventObject class is the highest-level class in the event-delegation class hierarchy.

114. What event results from the clicking of a button?

The ActionEvent event is generated as the result of the clicking of a button.

115. How can a GUI component handle its own events?

A component can handle its own events by implementing the required event-listener interface and adding itself as its own event listener.

116. What is the difference between a while statement and a do statement?

A while statement checks at the beginning of a loop to see whether the next loop iteration should occur. A do statement checks at the end of a loop to see whether the next iteration of a loop should occur. The do statement will always execute the body of a loop at least once.

117. How are the elements of a GridBagLayout organized?

The elements of a GridBagLayout are organized according to a grid. However, the elements are of different sizes and may occupy more than one row or column of the grid. In addition, the rows and columns may have different sizes.

118. What advantage do Java's layout managers provide over traditional windowing systems?

Java uses layout managers to lay out components in a consistent manner across all windowing platforms. Since Java's layout managers aren't tied to absolute sizing and positioning, they are able to accomodate platform-specific differences among windowing systems.

119. What is the Collection interface?

The Collection interface provides support for the implementation of a mathematical bag - an unordered collection of objects that may contain duplicates.

120. What modifiers can be used with a local inner class?

A local inner class may be final or abstract.

121. What is the difference between static and non-static variables?

A static variable is associated with the class as a whole rather than with specific instances of a class. Non-static variables take on unique values with each object instance.

122. What is the difference between the paint() and repaint() methods?

The paint() method supports painting via a Graphics object. The repaint() method is used to cause paint() to be invoked by the AWT painting thread.

123. What is the purpose of the File class?

The File class is used to create objects that provide access to the files and directories of a local file system.

124. Can an exception be rethrown?

Yes, an exception can be rethrown.

125. Which Math method is used to calculate the absolute value of a number?

The abs() method is used to calculate absolute values.

126. How does multithreading take place on a computer with a single CPU?

The operating system's task scheduler allocates execution time to multiple tasks. By quickly switching between executing tasks, it creates the impression that tasks execute sequentially.

127. When does the compiler supply a default constructor for a class?

The compiler supplies a default constructor for a class if no other constructors are provided.

128. When is the finally clause of a try-catch-finally statement executed?

The finally clause of the try-catch-finally statement is always executed unless the thread of execution terminates or an exception occurs within the execution of the finally clause.

129. Which class is the immediate superclass of the Container class?

Component

130. If a method is declared as protected, where may the method be accessed?

A protected method may only be accessed by classes or interfaces of the same package or by subclasses of the class in which it is declared.

131. How can the Checkbox class be used to create a radio button?

By associating Checkbox objects with a CheckboxGroup.

132. Which non-Unicode letter characters may be used as the first character of an identifier?

The non-Unicode letter characters $ and _ may appear as the first character of an identifier

133. What restrictions are placed on method overloading?

Two methods may not have the same name and argument list but different return types.

134. What happens when you invoke a thread's interrupt method while it is sleeping or waiting?

When a task's interrupt() method is executed, the task enters the ready state. The next time the task enters the running state, an InterruptedException is thrown.

135. What is casting?

There are two types of casting, casting between primitive numeric types and casting between object references. Casting between numeric types is used to convert larger values, such as double values, to smaller values, such as byte values. Casting between object references is used to refer to an object by a compatible class, interface, or array type reference.

136. What is the return type of a program's main() method?

A program's main() method has a void return type.

137. Name four Container classes.

Window, Frame, Dialog, FileDialog, Panel, Applet, or ScrollPane

138. What is the difference between a Choice and a List?

A Choice is displayed in a compact form that requires you to pull it down to see the list of available choices. Only one item may be selected from a Choice. A List may be displayed in such a way that several List items are visible. A List supports the selection of one or more List items.

139. What class of exceptions are generated by the Java run-time system?

The Java runtime system generates RuntimeException and Error exceptions.

140. What class allows you to read objects directly from a stream?

The ObjectInputStream class supports the reading of objects from input streams.

141. What is the difference between a field variable and a local variable?

A field variable is a variable that is declared as a member of a class. A local variable is a variable that is declared local to a method.

142. Under what conditions is an object's finalize() method invoked by the garbage collector?

The garbage collector invokes an object's finalize() method when it detects that the object has become unreachable.

143. How are this() and super() used with constructors?

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

144. What is the relationship between a method's throws clause and the exceptions that can be thrown during the method's execution?

A method's throws clause must declare any checked exceptions that are not caught within the body of the method.

145. What is the difference between the JDK 1.02 event model and the event-delegation model introduced with JDK 1.1?

The JDK 1.02 event model uses an event inheritance or bubbling approach. In this model, components are required to handle their own events. If they do not handle a particular event, the event is inherited by (or bubbled up to) the component's container. The container then either handles the event or it is bubbled up to its container and so on, until the highest-level container has been tried.

In the event-delegation model, specific objects are designated as event handlers for GUI components. These objects implement event-listener interfaces. The event-delegation model is more efficient than the event-inheritance model because it eliminates the processing required to support the bubbling of unhandled events.

146. How is it possible for two String objects with identical values not to be equal under the == operator?

The == operator compares two objects to determine if they are the same object in memory. It is possible for two String objects to have the same value, but located indifferent areas of memory.

147. Why are the methods of the Math class static?

So they can be invoked as if they are a mathematical code library.

148. What Checkbox method allows you to tell if a Checkbox is checked?

getState()

149. What state is a thread in when it is executing?

An executing thread is in the running state.

150. What are the legal operands of the instanceof operator?

The left operand is an object reference or null value and the right operand is a class, interface, or array type.

151. How are the elements of a GridLayout organized?

The elements of a GridBad layout are of equal size and are laid out using the squares of a grid.

152. What an I/O filter?

An I/O filter is an object that reads from one stream and writes to another, usually altering the data in some way as it is passed from one stream to another.

153. If an object is garbage collected, can it become reachable again?

Once an object is garbage collected, it ceases to exist. It can no longer become reachable again.

154. What is the Set interface?

The Set interface provides methods for accessing the elements of a finite mathematical set. Sets do not allow duplicate elements.

155. What classes of exceptions may be thrown by a throw statement?

A throw statement may throw any expression that may be assigned to the Throwable type.

156. What are E and PI?

E is the base of the natural logarithm and PI is mathematical value pi.

157. Are true and false keywords?

The values true and false are not keywords.

158. What is a void return type?

A void return type indicates that a method does not return a value.

159. What is the purpose of the enableEvents() method?

The enableEvents() method is used to enable an event for a particular object. Normally, an event is enabled when a listener is added to an object for a particular event. The enableEvents() method is used by objects that handle events by overriding their event-dispatch methods.

160. What is the difference between the File and RandomAccessFile classes?

The File class encapsulates the files and directories of the local file system. The RandomAccessFile class provides the methods needed to directly access data contained in any part of a file.

161. What happens when you add a double value to a String?

The result is a String object.

162. What is your platform's default character encoding?

If you are running Java on English Windows platforms, it is probably Cp1252. If you are running Java on English Solaris platforms, it is most likely 8859_1..

163. Which package is always imported by default?

The java.lang package is always imported by default.

164. What interface must an object implement before it can be written to a stream as an object?

An object must implement the Serializable or Externalizable interface before it can be written to a stream as an object.

165. How are this and super used?

this is used to refer to the current object instance. super is used to refer to the variables and methods of the superclass of the current object instance.

166. What is the purpose of garbage collection?

The purpose of garbage collection is to identify and discard objects that are no longer needed by a program so that their resources may be reclaimed and reused.

167. What is a compilation unit?

A compilation unit is a Java source code file.

168. What interface is extended by AWT event listeners?

All AWT event listeners extend the java.util.EventListener interface.

169. What restrictions are placed on method overriding?

Overridden methods must have the same name, argument list, and return type. The overriding method may not limit the access of the method it overrides. The overriding method may not throw any exceptions that may not be thrown by the overridden method.

170. How can a dead thread be restarted?

A dead thread cannot be restarted.

171. What happens if an exception is not caught?

An uncaught exception results in the uncaughtException() method of the thread's ThreadGroup being invoked, which eventually results in the termination of the program in which it is thrown.

172. What is a layout manager?

A layout manager is an object that is used to organize components in a container.

173. Which arithmetic operations can result in the throwing of an ArithmeticException?

Integer / and % can result in the throwing of an ArithmeticException.

174. What are three ways in which a thread can enter the waiting state?

A thread can enter the waiting state by invoking its sleep() method, by blocking on I/O, by unsuccessfully attempting to acquire an object's lock, or by invoking an object's wait() method. It can also enter the waiting state by invoking its (deprecated) suspend() method.

175. Can an abstract class be final?

An abstract class may not be declared as final.

176. What is the ResourceBundle class?

The ResourceBundle class is used to store locale-specific resources that can be loaded by a program to tailor the program's appearance to the particular locale in which it is being run.

177. What happens if a try-catch-finally statement does not have a catch clause to handle an exception that is thrown within the body of the try statement?

The exception propagates up to the next higher level try-catch statement (if any) or results in the program's termination.

178. What is numeric promotion?

Numeric promotion is the conversion of a smaller numeric type to a larger numeric type, so that integer and floating-point operations may take place. In numerical promotion, byte, char, and short values are converted to int

values. The int values are also converted to long values, if necessary. The long and float values are converted to double values, as required.

179. What is the difference between a Scrollbar and a ScrollPane?

A Scrollbar is a Component, but not a Container. A ScrollPane is a Container. A ScrollPane handles its own events and performs its own scrolling.

180. What is the difference between a public and a non-public class?

A public class may be accessed outside of its package. A non-public class may not be accessed outside of its package.

181. To what value is a variable of the boolean type automatically initialized?

The default value of the boolean type is false.

182. Can try statements be nested?

Try statements may be tested.

183. What is the difference between the prefix and postfix forms of the ++ operator?

The prefix form performs the increment operation and returns the value of the increment operation. The postfix form returns the current value all of the expression and then performs the increment operation on that value.

184. What is the purpose of a statement block?

A statement block is used to organize a sequence of statements as a single statement group.

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

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

186. What modifiers may be used with a top-level class?

A top-level class may be public, abstract, or final.

187. What are the Object and Class classes used for?

The Object class is the highest-level class in the Java class hierarchy. The Class class is used to represent the classes and interfaces that are loaded by a Java program.

188. How does a try statement determine which catch clause should be used to handle an exception?

When an exception is thrown within the body of a try statement, the catch clauses of the try statement are examined in the order in which they appear. The first catch clause that is capable of handling the exception is executed. The remaining catch clauses are ignored.

189. Can an unreachable object become reachable again?

An unreachable object may become reachable again. This can happen when the object's finalize() method is invoked and the object performs an operation which causes it to become accessible to reachable objects.

190. When is an object subject to garbage collection?

An object is subject to garbage collection when it becomes unreachable to the program in which it is used.

191. What method must be implemented by all threads?

All tasks must implement the run() method, whether they are a subclass of Thread or implement the Runnable interface.

192. What methods are used to get and set the text label displayed by a Button object?

getLabel() and setLabel()

193. Which Component subclass is used for drawing and painting?

Canvas

194. What are synchronized methods and synchronized statements?

Synchronized methods are methods that are used to control access to an object. A thread only executes a synchronized method after it has acquired the lock for the method's object or class. Synchronized statements are similar to synchronized methods. A synchronized statement can only be executed after a thread has acquired the lock for the object or class referenced in the synchronized statement.

195. What are the two basic ways in which classes that can be run as threads may be defined?

A thread class may be declared as a subclass of Thread, or it may implement the Runnable interface.

196. What are the problems faced by Java programmers who don't use layout managers?

Without layout managers, Java programmers are faced with determining how their GUI will be displayed across multiple windowing systems and finding a common sizing and positioning that will work within the constraints imposed by each windowing system.

197. What is the difference between an if statement and a switch statement?

The if statement is used to select among two alternatives. It uses a boolean expression to decide which alternative should be executed. The switch statement is used to select among multiple alternatives. It uses an int expression to determine which alternative should be executed.

198. What happens when you add a double value to a String?

The result is a String object.

199. What is the List interface?

The List interface provides support for ordered collections of objects.