Java Interview Questions and Answers 26

What does it mean that a method or class is abstract?
An abstract class cannot be instantiated. Only its subclasses can be instantiated. You indicate that a class is abstract with the abstract keyword like this:
public abstract class Container extends Component {
Abstract classes may contain abstract methods. A method declared abstract is not actually implemented in the current class. It exists only to be overridden in subclasses. It has no body. For example,
public abstract float price();
Abstract methods may only be included in abstract classes. However, an abstract class is not required to have any abstract methods, though most of them do.
Each subclass of an abstract class must override the abstract methods of its superclasses or itself be declared abstract.

What is the main difference between Java platform and other platforms?
The Java platform differs from most other platforms in that it's a software-only platform that runs on top of other hardware-based platforms.
The Java platform has three elements:
Java programming language
The Java Virtual Machine (Java VM)
The Java Application Programming Interface (Java API)

What is the Java Virtual Machine?
The Java Virtual Machine is a software that can be ported onto various hardware-based platforms.

What is the Java API?
The Java API is a large collection of ready-made software components that provide many useful capabilities, such as graphical user interface (GUI) widgets.

What is the package?
The package is a Java namespace or part of Java libraries. The Java API is grouped into libraries of related classes and interfaces; these libraries are known as packages.

What is native code?
The native code is code that after you compile it, the compiled code runs on a specific hardware platform.

Explain the user defined Exceptions?
User defined Exceptions are the separate Exception classes defined by the user for specific purposed. An user defined can created by simply sub-classing it to the Exception class. This allows custom exceptions to be generated (using throw) and caught in the same way as normal exceptions.
Example:
class myCustomException extends Exception {
// The class simply has to exist to be an exception
}

Is Java code slower than native code?
Not really. As a platform-independent environment, the Java platform can be a bit slower than native code. However, smart compilers, well-tuned interpreters, and just-in-time bytecode compilers can bring performance close to that of native code without threatening portability.

Can main() method be overloaded?
Yes. the main() method is a special method for a program entry. You can overload main() method in any ways. But if you change the signature of the main method, the entry point for the program will be gone.

What is the serialization?
The serialization is a kind of mechanism that makes a class or a bean persistence by having its properties or fields and state information saved and restored to and from storage.

Explain the new Features of JDBC 2.0 Core API?
The JDBC 2.0 API includes the complete JDBC API, which includes both core and Optional Package API, and provides inductrial-strength database computing capabilities.
New Features in JDBC 2.0 Core API:

Scrollable result sets- using new methods in the ResultSet interface allows programmatically move the to particular row or to a position relative to its current position
JDBC 2.0 Core API provides the Batch Updates functionality to the java applications.
Java applications can now use the ResultSet.updateXXX methods.
New data types - interfaces mapping the SQL3 data types
Custom mapping of user-defined types (UTDs)
Miscellaneous features, including performance hints, the use of character streams, full precision for java.math.BigDecimal values, additional security, and support for time zones in date, time, and timestamp values.

How you can force the garbage collection?
Garbage collection automatic process and can't be forced.