Core Java Interview Questions and Answers

Ques 146. What are the states of a thread?

A thread state. A thread can be in one of the following states:

• NEW
  A thread that has not yet started is in this state.
• RUNNABLE
  A thread executing in the Java virtual machine is in this state.
• BLOCKED
  A thread that is blocked waiting for a monitor lock is in this state.
• WAITING
  A thread that is waiting indefinitely for another thread to perform a particular action is in this state.
• TIMED_WAITING
  A thread that is waiting for another thread to perform an action for up to a specified waiting time is in this state.
• TERMINATED
  A thread that has exited is in this state.

A thread can be in only one state at a given point in time. These states are virtual machine states which do not reflect any operating system thread states.

Ques 147. What are the threads will start, when you start the java program?

Finalizer/DestroyJavaVM, Main, Reference Handler, Signal Dispatcher

Ques 148. What are the different identifier states of a Thread?

The different identifiers of a Thread are: R - Running or runnable thread, S - Suspended thread, CW - Thread waiting on a condition variable, MW - Thread waiting on a monitor lock, MS - Thread suspended waiting on a monitor lock

Ques 149. 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.

Ques 150. 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.