Tricky Java Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. What will below statements print?

Ans:
long longWithL = 1000*60*60*24*365L;

long longWithoutL = 1000*60*60*24*365;

System.out.println(longWithL);

System.out.println(longWithoutL);

Q2. Can you override private or static method in Java ?

Ans: “Another popular Java tricky question… You can not override private or static method in Java. If you create a similar method with same return type and same method arguments, that’s called method hiding.”

Q3.  What does the following Java program print?

Ans: public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(Math.min(Double.MIN_VALUE, 0.0d)); } }Answer: This question is tricky because unlike the Integer, where MIN_VALUE is negative, both the MAX_VALUE and MIN_VALUE of the Double class are positive numbers. The Double.MIN_VALUE is 2^(-1074), a double constant whose magnitude is the least among all double values. So unlike the obvious answer, this program will print 0.0 because Double.MIN_VALUE is greater than 0. I have asked this question to Java developer having experience up to 3 to 5 years and surprisingly almost 70% candidate got it wrong.

Q4. What will happen if you put return statement or System.exit () on try or catch block? Will finally block execute?

Ans: This is a very popular tricky Java question and it's tricky because many programmers think that no matter what, but the finally block will always execute. This question challenge that concept by putting a return statement in the try or catch block or calling System.exit() from try or catch block. Answer of this tricky question in Java is that finally block will execute even if you put a return statement in the try block or catch block but finally block won't run if you call System.exit() from try or catch block. 

Q5.  Can you override a private or static method in Java?

Ans: Another popular Java tricky question, As I said method overriding is a good topic to ask trick questions in Java. Anyway, you can not override a private or static method in Java, if you create a similar method with same return type and same method arguments in child class then it will hide the superclass method, this is known as method hiding.

Similarly, you cannot override a private method in sub class because it's not accessible there, what you do is create another private method with the same name in the child class. See Can you override a private method in Java or more details.

Q6. Brain-Teasing Java Interview Questions

Ans: We have boiled down the huge range of typical and most tricky Java interview questions from these guides, and on Quora, to a list of 20, some of them answered, to help you prepare for your important job interview.

The consensus among Java experts online is, concentrate on the fundamentals, don’t wing it, and do your homework. Then no Java interview questions fired at you on the day will seem at all remotely tricky. Good luck, Java AGENTs

Q7. What does the following Java program print?

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        System.out.println(Math.min(Double.MIN_VALUE, 0.0d));

    }

}

Ans: This question is tricky because unlike the Integer, where MIN_VALUE is negative, both the MAX_VALUE and MIN_VALUE of the Double class are positive numbers. The Double.MIN_VALUE is 2^(-1074), a double constant whose magnitude is the least among all double values. So unlike the obvious answer, this program will print 0.0 because Double.MIN_VALUE is greater than 0. I have asked this question to Java developer having experience up to 3 to 5 years and surprisingly almost 70% candidate got it wrong.

Q8. where an id is an integer number.

Ans: Classic Java questions which some people think tricky and some consider very easy. StringBuilder in Java was introduced in JDK 1.5 and the only difference between both of them is that StringBuffer methods e.g. length(), capacity() or append() are synchronized while corresponding methods in StringBuilder are not synchronized.

Because of this fundamental difference, concatenation of String using StringBuilder is faster than StringBuffer. Actually, it's considered the bad practice to use StringBuffer anymore, because, in almost 99% scenario, you perform string concatenation on the same thread. See StringBuilder vs StringBuffer for more differences.

Q12. Can you access a non-static variable in the static context?

Ans: Another tricky Java question from Java fundamentals. No, you can not access a non-static variable from the static context in Java. If you try, it will give compile time error. This is actually a common problem beginner in Java face when they try to access instance variable inside the main method. Because main is static in Java, and instance variables are non-static, you can not access instance variable inside main. See, why you can not access a non-static variable from static method to learn more about this tricky Java questions.

Q13. Does Java support multiple inheritances?

Ans: This is the trickiest question in Java if C++ can support direct multiple inheritances than why not Java is the argument Interviewer often give. Answer of this question is much more subtle then it looks like, because Java does support multiple inheritances of Type by allowing an interface to extend other interfaces, what Java doesn't support is multiple inheritances of implementation. This distinction also gets blur because of default method of Java 8, which now provides Java, multiple inheritances of behavior as well. See why multiple inheritances are not supported in Java to answer this tricky Java question.

Q14. What will happen if we put a key object in a HashMap which is already there?

Ans: This tricky Java question is part of another frequently asked question, How HashMap works in Java. HashMap is also a popular topic to create confusing and tricky question in Java. Answer of this question is if you put the same key again then it will replace the old mapping because HashMap doesn't allow duplicate keys. The Same key will result in the same hashcode and will end up at the same position in the bucket.

Each bucket contains a linked list of Map.Entry object, which contains both Key and Value. Now Java will take the Key object from each entry and compare with this new key using equals() method, if that return true then value object in that entry will be replaced by new value. See How HashMap works in Java for more tricky Java questions from HashMap.

Q15.  What does the following Java program print?

Ans: public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(Math.min(Double.MIN_VALUE, 0.0d)); } }Answer: This question is tricky because unlike the Integer, where MIN_VALUE is negative, both the MAX_VALUE and MIN_VALUE of the Double class are positive numbers. The Double.MIN_VALUE is 2^(-1074), a double constant whose magnitude is the least among all double values. So unlike the obvious answer, this program will print 0.0 because Double.MIN_VALUE is greater than 0. I have asked this question to Java developer having experience up to 3 to 5 years and surprisingly almost 70% candidate got it wrong.

Q16. What will happen if you put return statement or System.exit () on try or catch block? Will finally block execute?

Ans: This is a very popular tricky Java question and it's tricky because many programmers think that no matter what, but the finally block will always execute. This question challenge that concept by putting a return statement in the try or catch block or calling System.exit() from try or catch block. Answer of this tricky question in Java is that finally block will execute even if you put a return statement in the try block or catch block but finally block won't run if you call System.exit() from try or catch block.