TCS Interview Questions

#1What is the difference between == and .equals() in Java?

#2What is the difference between abstract class and interface?

#3Explain the SOLID principles.

#4How does HashMap work internally?

#5What is the difference between HashMap and ConcurrentHashMap?

#6Explain Java Memory Model: Heap, Stack, and Metaspace.

#7What is the volatile keyword in Java?

#8What are functional interfaces and lambda expressions in Java 8?

#9What is Optional and when should you use it?

#10Explain the Stream API and intermediate vs terminal operations.

#11What is the difference between checked and unchecked exceptions?

#12What is the difference between String, StringBuilder, and StringBuffer?

#13What is method overloading vs method overriding?

#14What is the difference between final, finally, and finalize?

#15What are Java records (Java 16+)?

#16What is the Executor framework and when would you use it over raw Threads?

#17What is encapsulation and how is it achieved in Java?

#18What is polymorphism? Explain runtime vs compile-time polymorphism.

#19What is the difference between composition and inheritance?

#20What is a marker interface? Give examples.

#21What are the design patterns most commonly asked in Java interviews?

#22What is the difference between ArrayList and LinkedList?

#23What is the difference between HashSet, LinkedHashSet, and TreeSet?

#24What is the difference between HashMap and TreeMap?

#25What is the contract between equals() and hashCode()?

#26What is the difference between fail-fast and fail-safe iterators?

#27What is CopyOnWriteArrayList and when should you use it?

#28How does PriorityQueue work and when would you use it?

#29What is the difference between sleep(), wait(), and yield()?

#30What are atomic classes (AtomicInteger, AtomicReference)? How do they work?

#31What is a CountDownLatch vs CyclicBarrier?

#32What is the difference between JDK, JRE, and JVM?

#33What is the String pool and how does string interning work?

#34What are sealed classes (Java 17)?

#35What is pattern matching for instanceof (Java 16)?

#36What are text blocks (Java 15)?

#37What is the difference between map() and flatMap() in streams?

#38What are method references in Java 8?

#39What is the difference between Comparable and Comparator?

#40What is Stream.collect() and what are common Collectors?

#41What is try-with-resources and how does it work?

#42What is the difference between throw and throws?

#43What is exception chaining and why is it important?

#44What is the difference between Java IO and NIO?

#45What is reflection in Java and when is it used?

#46What is the difference between deep copy and shallow copy?

#47What is autoboxing and unboxing? What are the performance implications?

#48What are enums in Java and what advanced features do they support?

#49What is the difference between static and instance initializer blocks?

#50What is the difference between String.format() and String.formatted()?

#51What is the var keyword (Java 10) and when should you use it?

#52What is the difference between an inner class, static nested class, and anonymous class?

#53What are the new switch expressions (Java 14)?

#54What is the difference between Runnable, Callable, and Future?

#55What is the difference between String.equals() and String.equalsIgnoreCase()?

#56What is the difference between Iterator and ListIterator?

#57What is the difference between abstract class and concrete class?

#58How do you handle NullPointerException in Java?

#59What is the Collections utility class? What are its most important methods?

#60What is the difference between Deque and Queue?

#61What is the difference between checked and unchecked exceptions — best practices for APIs?

#62What is the ternary operator and the null-coalescing equivalent in Java?

#63What is the difference between == null check and Objects.isNull()?

#64What is the difference between interface default methods and abstract class methods?

#65What is the difference between Iterable and Iterator?

#66What are the best practices for writing clean Java code?

#67What is the difference between a process and a thread in Java?

#68What is a race condition and how do you prevent it?

#69What is the difference between HashMap.computeIfAbsent() and getOrDefault()?

#70What is the purpose of the transient keyword?

#71What is the difference between i++ and ++i in Java?

#72What are the Java 8 Date/Time APIs and why were they introduced?

#73What is the difference between HashMap.put() and HashMap.putIfAbsent()?

#74What is the difference between String.valueOf() and toString()?

#75What is an immutable class and how do you create one?

#76What is the covariant return type in Java?

#77What is the difference between static and instance methods?

#78What is the difference between Predicate.and(), Predicate.or(), and Predicate.negate()?

#79What is the Observer pattern and how is it implemented in Java?

#80What is the Strategy pattern in Java?

#81What are the key differences between Java 8, 11, 17, and 21?

#82What is auto-configuration in Spring Boot?

#83What is @SpringBootApplication and what does it do?

#84What is IoC (Inversion of Control) and Dependency Injection?

#85What is the difference between @Component, @Service, and @Repository?

#86What is the difference between @Controller and @RestController?

#87How does Spring Boot handle exceptions globally?

#88What is Spring Boot Actuator?

#89What is the difference between @Bean and @Component?

#90Explain Spring Bean scopes.

#91How do you configure Spring profiles?

#92What is @Async in Spring Boot and how does it work?

#93What is Spring Data JPA and how does it simplify data access?

#94How does Spring Boot externalized configuration work?

#95What is Spring Cache Abstraction and how do you use it?

#96What are Spring Boot starters and why are they useful?

#97How do you write integration tests in Spring Boot?

#98What is the Spring ApplicationContext and how does it differ from BeanFactory?

#99What is the @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy lifecycle?

#100What is @Qualifier and when do you need it?

#101What is @ConfigurationProperties and how does it differ from @Value?

#102What is Spring Boot's embedded server and how do you switch from Tomcat to Undertow?

#103What is Spring's @EventListener and ApplicationEvent?

#104What is Spring Boot DevTools?

#105What is the difference between @RequestParam, @PathVariable, and @RequestBody?

#106How do you implement request validation in Spring Boot?

#107What is ResponseEntity and when should you use it?

#108What is content negotiation in Spring MVC?

#109How do you implement pagination and sorting in Spring Boot?

#110How do you version a REST API in Spring Boot?

#111What is the difference between findById() and getById() in Spring Data JPA?

#112What is the difference between @OneToMany with fetch LAZY vs EAGER?

#113What is CSRF and how does Spring Security handle it?

#114What is the difference between @Secured, @PreAuthorize, and @RolesAllowed?

#115What is CORS and how do you configure it in Spring Boot?

#116What is MockMvc and how do you use it?

#117What is @MockBean vs @Mock in Spring Boot tests?

#118What is @DataJpaTest and how does it differ from @SpringBootTest?

#119What is Testcontainers and how does it improve Spring Boot tests?

#120What is Micrometer and how does it integrate with Spring Boot Actuator?

#121How do you implement custom health indicators in Spring Boot?

#122What is graceful shutdown in Spring Boot and how do you configure it?

#123What is @ControllerAdvice and how does it work?

#124What is Spring's @Scheduled and how do you configure it?

#125What is CommandLineRunner and ApplicationRunner?

#126What is Spring Boot's banner and how can you customize it?

#127What is Spring Retry and how do you use it?

#128What is @Transactional readOnly = true and what does it optimize?

#129How do you handle file uploads in Spring Boot?

#130What is the difference between @RequestMapping and specific mapping annotations?

#131What is the difference between @Transactional on a class vs a method?

#132What is Spring Boot's connection pool? How do you tune HikariCP?

#133What is Spring Boot's auto-configuration for messaging (RabbitMQ / Kafka)?

#134How does Spring Boot handle environment-specific properties?

#135What is the purpose of @EnableJpaAuditing?

#136What is the difference between eager and lazy initialization in Spring Boot?

#137What is Spring Boot's support for caching with Redis?

#138What is Spring Boot's support for MongoDB?

#139What is the difference between @Valid and @Validated in Spring?

#140What is Spring Data REST and how does it differ from Spring MVC?

#141What is the difference between @Inject and @Autowired?

#142What is Flyway and how does it integrate with Spring Boot?

#143What are Spring Boot's management endpoints and how do you secure them?

#144What is Spring Boot's Docker image building support?

#145What is the difference between @SpringBootTest(webEnvironment) options?

#146What is Spring Boot's support for SSE (Server-Sent Events)?

#147What are the different types of SQL JOINs?

#148How does indexing work in MySQL (InnoDB)?

#149What is a covering index?

#150How do you use EXPLAIN to analyze a query?

#151What are CTEs (Common Table Expressions) and when should you use them?

#152What is the N+1 query problem and how do you fix it?

#153What is a deadlock in MySQL and how does it occur?

#154What is the difference between DELETE, TRUNCATE, and DROP?

#155What is database normalization?

#156What is GROUP BY vs HAVING in SQL?

#157What is a stored procedure and when should you use it?

#158What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

#159What is the difference between a clustered and a non-clustered index?

#160How does MySQL handle AUTO_INCREMENT?

#161What are covering indexes and how do they improve performance?

#162What is the EXPLAIN output and how do you read it?

#163What are database triggers and when should you avoid them?

#164What is a foreign key constraint and what are its performance implications?

#165What is the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR?

#166How do you implement full-text search in MySQL?

#167What is the difference between MyISAM and InnoDB?

#168What are MySQL stored procedures and when should you use them?

#169How do you perform a slow query analysis in MySQL?

#170What is the difference between HAVING and WHERE?

#171What is MySQL's query cache and why was it removed?

#172How do you back up a MySQL database without downtime?

#173What is the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking in MySQL?

#174What is the difference between IN, EXISTS, and JOIN for subqueries?

#175How do you implement pagination in MySQL efficiently?

#176What are the different types of JOINs in MySQL?

#177What is the difference between a view and a materialized view?

#178What are common MySQL performance anti-patterns?

#179What is a generated column in MySQL?

#180What are the best practices for MySQL schema design?

#181How do you use MySQL's JSON column type?

#182What is ProxySQL and how is it used?

#183How do you detect and fix index fragmentation in MySQL?

#184What are the MySQL 8.0 improvements over MySQL 5.7?

#185How do you design a schema for audit logging?

#186What is the difference between COUNT(*), COUNT(1), and COUNT(col)?

#187How do you implement soft delete in MySQL?

#188What is the difference between CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT, and BLOB?

#189What is the difference between schema-on-write and schema-on-read?

#190How do you handle time zones in MySQL?

#191What is the difference between a unique constraint and a unique index?

#192How do you monitor MySQL in production?

#193What are window functions and how do you use them?

#194What is the difference between a primary key and a unique key?

#195How do you use MySQL's event scheduler?

#196What is the EXPLAIN ANALYZE command?

#197How do you handle database connection failures in application code?

#198What is the MySQL query execution order?

#199How do you scale MySQL reads?

#200What is the difference between row-based and statement-based replication?

#201How do you use CTEs (Common Table Expressions) effectively?

#202What is the difference between TRUNCATE, DELETE, and DROP?

#203How do you implement optimistic locking with versioning in MySQL?

#204What are the different ways to copy a table in MySQL?

#205What is the purpose of the information_schema?

#206How do you implement full-table search across millions of rows efficiently?

#207What is the max_connections parameter and how do you tune it?

#208What is the difference between ROLLUP and CUBE in SQL?

#209How do you handle NULL values in MySQL queries?

#210What is the difference between a read and a write transaction?

#211What is the mysql.user table and how does MySQL authentication work?

#212What are MySQL's data types for storing money?

#213What is the difference between DATETIME and TIMESTAMP in MySQL?

#214What is Docker and how does it differ from a VM?

#215What is the difference between a Docker image and a container?

#216Explain the difference between CMD and ENTRYPOINT in a Dockerfile.

#217What is a multi-stage build and why is it important?

#218What are Docker volumes and when would you use bind mounts instead?

#219Explain Docker networking modes.

#220How do you reduce Docker image size?

#221How does Docker layer caching work?

#222What is Docker Compose and when would you use it?

#223What is a Docker health check?

#224How do you handle logging in Docker containers?

#225What is the difference between docker stop and docker kill?

#226How do you debug a running Docker container?

#227What is Docker Swarm and how does it compare to Kubernetes?

#228What are Docker labels and how are they used?

#229What is the .dockerignore file and why is it important?

#230What are Docker ARG and ENV and how do they differ?

#231What is the difference between COPY and ADD in a Dockerfile?

#232How do you set resource limits on Docker containers?

#233What is a Docker registry and how do you set up a private one?

#234What is WORKDIR in a Dockerfile and why should you use it?

#235How does Docker handle container restart policies?

#236What is the principle of container immutability and how do you implement it?

#237How do you handle environment-specific configuration in Docker?

#238What is a multi-platform Docker image and how do you build one?

#239What is the difference between EXPOSE and port publishing in Docker?

#240How do you troubleshoot a container that won't start?

#241How do you use Docker for local database development?

#242How do you use Docker exec and what are common use cases?

#243What is a Dockerfile SHELL instruction?

#244How do you use Docker Compose for integration testing?

#245What is Docker image tagging strategy?

#246What is the difference between CMD in shell form vs exec form?

#247What is a Docker context?

#248How do you scan Docker images for vulnerabilities?

#249How do you implement service-to-service communication with Docker Compose?

#250What are Docker Compose profiles?

#251How do you monitor Docker containers?

#252How do you use Docker volumes for persistent data and backups?

#253What is a distroless image and when should you use it?

#254How do you cache dependencies effectively for different languages in Docker?

#255What is the Docker container lifecycle?

#256What is COPY --chown and how do you set file permissions in Dockerfile?

#257What is Docker's garbage collection and how do you manage disk space?

#258What is Docker Desktop and how does it differ from Docker Engine?

#259How do you implement health-dependent startup ordering in Docker Compose?

#260How do you share data between containers in Docker?

#261What is Podman and how does it compare to Docker?

#262How do you handle configuration management across multiple Docker environments?

#263What is the difference between docker commit and building from Dockerfile?

#264How do you configure the Docker daemon (dockerd)?

#265What is the Docker build context and how does it affect build performance?

#266How do you use Docker with GitHub Actions for CI/CD?

#267What is the Docker Compose watch feature and how does it improve developer experience?

#268What is image layer sharing and how does it save storage?

#269What is Docker Scout and how does it improve supply chain security?

#270How do you run stateful applications in Docker?

#271How do you handle log rotation and disk usage for Docker container logs?

#272What are Docker's best practices for production deployments?

#273How do you optimize Docker for Node.js applications?

#274What is Docker's host network mode and when should you use it?

#275What is an SBOM and how do you generate one for Docker images?

#276What is a multi-container application pattern vs microservices in Docker?

#277How do you implement service health checks and readiness probes in production?

#278What are the limits of Docker and when should you move to Kubernetes?