Some C# Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is a void return type?
A void return type indicates that a method does not return a value.

2. How is it possible for two String objects with identical values not to be equal under the == operator?
The == operator compares two objects to determine if they are the same object in memory. It is possible for two String objects to have the same value, but located indifferent areas of memory.

3. What is the difference between a while statement and a do statement?
A while statement checks at the beginning of a loop to see whether the next loop iteration should occur. A do statement checks at the end of a loop to see whether the next iteration of a loop should occur. The do statement will always execute the body of a loop at least once.

4. Can a for statement loop indefinitely?
Yes, a for statement can loop indefinitely. For example, consider the following:
for(;;) ;

5. How do you link a C++ program to C functions?
By using the extern “C” linkage specification around the C function declarations.

6. How can you tell what shell you are running on UNIX system?
You can do the Echo $RANDOM. It will return a undefined variable if you are from the C-Shell, just a return prompt if you are from the Bourne shell, and a 5 digit random numbers if you are from the Korn shell. You could also do a ps -l and look for the shell with the highest PID.

7. How do you find out if a linked-list has an end? (i.e. the list is not a cycle)
You can find out by using 2 pointers. One of them goes 2 nodes each time. The second one goes at 1 nodes each time. If there is a cycle, the one that goes 2 nodes each time will eventually meet the one that goes slower. If that is the case, then you will know the linked-list is a cycle.

8. Can a copy constructor accept an object of the same class as parameter, instead of reference of the object?
No. It is specified in the definition of the copy constructor itself. It should generate an error if a programmer specifies a copy constructor with a first argument that is an object and not a reference.

9. What is a local class? Why can it be useful?
Local class is a class defined within the scope of a function — any function, whether a member function or a free function. Like nested classes, local classes can be a useful tool for managing code dependencies.

10. What is a nested class? Why can it be useful?
A nested class is a class enclosed within the scope of another class.

11. What are the access privileges in C++? What is the default access level?
The access privileges in C++ are private, public and protected. The default access level assigned to members of a class is private. Private members of a class are accessible only within the class and by friends of the class. Protected members are accessible by the class itself and it’s sub-classes. Public members of a class can be accessed by anyone.

12. What is multiple inheritance(virtual inheritance)? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
Multiple Inheritance is the process whereby a child can be derived from more than one parent class. The advantage of multiple inheritance is that it allows a class to inherit the functionality of more than one base class thus allowing for modeling of complex relationships. The disadvantage of multiple inheritance is that it can lead to a lot of confusion(ambiguity) when two base classes implement a method with the same name.

13. How do you access the static member of a class?
::

14. What does extern “C” int func(int *, Foo) accomplish?
It will turn off “name mangling” for func so that one can link to code compiled by a C compiler.

15.What are the differences between a C++ struct and C++ class?
The default member and base class access specifiers are different. The C++ struct has all the features of the class. The only differences are that a struct defaults to public member access and public base class inheritance, and a class defaults to the private access specifier and private base class inheritance.

16.What is Virtual Destructor?
Using virtual destructors, you can destroy objects without knowing their type - the correct destructor for the object is invoked using the virtual function mechanism

17. How are prefix and postfix versions of operator++() differentiated?
The postfix version of operator++() has a dummy parameter of type int. The prefix version does not have dummy parameter.

18. What is the difference between a pointer and a reference?
A reference must always refer to some object and, therefore, must always be initialized; pointers do not have such restrictions. A pointer can be reassigned to point to different objects while a reference always refers to an object with which it was initialized.

19. How virtual functions are implemented C++?
Virtual functions are implemented using a table of function pointers, called the vtable.

20. What is “this” pointer?
The this pointer is a pointer accessible only within the member functions of a class, struct, or union type. It points to the object for which the member function is called. Static member functions do not have a this pointer. When a nonstatic member function is called for an object, the address of the object is passed as a hidden argument to the function

21. What is overloading??
With the C++ language, you can overload functions and operators. Overloading is the practice of supplying more than one definition for a given function name in the same scope.
- Any two functions in a set of overloaded functions must have different argument lists.
- Overloading functions with argument lists of the same types, based on return type alone, is an error.

22. What is inline function?
The inline keyword tells the compiler to substitute the code within the function definition for every instance of a function call. However, substitution occurs only at the compiler’s discretion. For example, the compiler does not inline a function if its address is taken or if it is too large to inline.

23. What is copy constructor?
Constructor which initializes the it’s object member variables ( by shallow copying) with another object of the same class. If you don’t implement one in your class then compiler implements one for you.

24. What is virtual function?
When derived class overrides the base class method by redefining the same function, then if client wants to access redefined the method from derived class through a pointer from base class object, then you must define this function in base class as virtual function.