CSCI A202 - Introduction to Programming (II)

Final Exam Information

1. What is the difference between a Java applet and a Java application?

2. What is the relationship between a high-level language and machine language?
   What is Java bytecode?

3. What is a variable?

4. Name two specific purposes of the + operator.

5. What is a Java constant? How is it different from a Java variable?

6. Explain the concept of operator precedence.

7. What is an infinite loop? Specifically what causes it?

8. What is the difference between an object and a class?

9. What are constructors used for? How are they defined?

10. Explain the difference between an actual parameter and a formal parameter.

11. How is information passed back from a method?

12. How are overloaded methods distinguished from each other?

13. Describe the following:
    • public method
    • private method
    • public variable
    • static variable
    • static method

14. What is the difference between break and continue statements?
    When should they be used?

15. Explain the concept of array bounds checking. What happens when a Java array reference has an index value that is not valid?

16. How is an array of objects created?

17. What are the advantages of using a Vector as opposed to an array? What are the disadvantages?

18. Describe the Java coordinate system.

19. Describe the relationship between a parent class and a child class.

20. How does inheritance support software reuse?

21. Why would a child class override one or more of the methods of its parent class?

22. What is the super reference important to a child class?

23. What is the defining characteristic of a class hierarchy?

24. What is polymorphism?

25. How is overriding related to polymorphism?

26. What is the difference between a class and an abstract class?

27. What is the difference between a class and an interface?

28. What is the difference between an abstract class and an interface?

29. What is the purpose of an interface?

30. What is a package?

31. What is the primary difference between a window and a panel?

32. What is an event?

33. What is a container?

34. What is a layout manager?

35. What is the component hierarchy?

36. Why would you use a Label instead of a TextField?

37. What is the basic model for GUI programs?

38. Why are there many different GUI components?

39. Write a recursive definition of a valid Java identifier.

40. What is recursion? What is recursive programming?

41. Write a recursive definition of x^y (x to the power of y), where x and y are integers and y > 0.

42. What is infinite recursion?

43. When is a base case needed for recursion?

44. Is recursion necessary?

45. When should recursion be avoided?