Java Interview Questions and Answers 30

How can we make a class Singleton ?
A) If the class is Serializable

class Singleton implements Serializable
{
private static Singleton instance;

private Singleton() { }

public static synchronized Singleton getInstance()
{
if (instance == null)
instance = new Singleton();
return instance;
}

/**
If the singleton implements Serializable, then this
* method must be supplied.
*/
protected Object readResolve() {
return instance;
}

/**
This method avoids the object fro being cloned
*/
public Object clone() {
throws CloneNotSupportedException ;
//return instance;
}
}

B) If the class is NOT Serializable


class Singleton
{
private static Singleton instance;
private Singleton() { }

public static synchronized Singleton getInstance()
{
if (instance == null)
instance = new Singleton();
return instance;
}

/**
This method avoids the object from being cloned
**/
public Object clone() {
throws CloneNotSupportedException ;
//return instance;
}

}

How is static Synchronization different form non-static synchronization?
When Synchronization is applied on a static Member or a static block, the lock is performed on the Class and not on the Object, while in the case of a Non-static block/member, lock is applied on the Object and not on class. [Trail 2: There is a class called Class in Java whose object is associated with the object(s) of your class. All the static members declared in your class will have reference in this class(Class). As long as your class exists in memory this object of Class is also present. Thats how even if you create multiple objects of your class only one Class object is present and all your objects are linked to this Class object. Even though one of your object is GCed after some time, this object of Class is not GCed untill all the objects associated with it are GCed.
This means that when ever you call a "static synchronized" block, JVM locks access to this Class object and not any of your objects. Your client can till access the non-static members of your objects.

What are class members and Instance members?
Any global members(Variables, methods etc.) which are static are called as Class level members and those which are non-static are called as Instance level members.

Name few Garbage collection algorithms?
Here they go:
Mark and Sweep
Reference counting
Tracing collectors
Copying collectors
Heap compaction
Mark-compact collectors

Can we force Garbage collection?
java follows a philosophy of automatic garbage collection, you can suggest or encourage the JVM to perform garbage collection but you can not force it. Once a variable is no longer referenced by anything it is available for garbage collection. You can suggest garbage collection with System.gc(), but this does not guarantee when it will happen. Local variables in methods go out of scope when the method exits. At this point the methods are eligible for garbage collection. Each time the method comes into scope the local variables are re-created.