TECHNICAL PREPARATION GUIDE

🔹 C PROGRAMMING

1. What is an algorithm?
→ Algorithm: Step-by-step procedure to solve a problem.

2. What is a flowchart?
→ Flowchart: Graphical diagram representing algorithm steps using symbols.

3. What is the use of a compiler?

→ Compiler: Converts entire source code into machine code.

4. What is pseudocode?
→ Pseudocode: Simple English-like representation of program logic.

5. What are variables and constants?

→ Variables: values that change; Constants: fixed values.

6. What are basic input/output functions?

→ Input: scanf(); Output: printf().

7. What is precedence and associativity?

→ Precedence: operator priority; Associativity: evaluation direction.

8. Name operators in C
→ Operators: Arithmetic, Relational, Logical, Assignment, Bitwise.

9. What is implicit and explicit type conversion?

→ Implicit: automatic; Explicit: manual (type casting).

10. What are bitwise operators?

→ Bitwise: &, |, ^, ~, <<, >>.

11. What are selection statements?

→ Selection: if, if-else, switch (decision making).

12. What are repetition statements?

→ Loops: for, while, do-while (repeat execution).

13. Difference between while and do-while?

→ while: check first; do-while: executes once then checks.
14. Use of break and continue?
→ break: exits loop; continue: skips current iteration.

15. Use of goto?

→ goto: jumps to labeled statement.

🔹 DATA STRUCTURES / C ADVANCED

31. Difference between structure and union?

→ Structure: separate memory; Union: shared memory.

32. What are storage class specifiers?

→ auto, static, extern, register: define scope & lifetime.

33. Use of const keyword?

→ const: makes variable value unchangeable.

34. What is void pointer?

→ Void pointer: can store address of any data type.

35. What is ragged array?

→ Ragged array: rows with different sizes.

36. Linear vs binary search?

→ Linear: sequential; Binary: divide & search (sorted data).

37. Sorting techniques?

→ Bubble, Selection, Insertion, Merge, Quick sort.

38. What is a data structure?

→ Data structure: method to organize and store data.

39. Linear vs non-linear data structure?

→ Linear: array, list; Non-linear: tree, graph.

40. Singly vs doubly linked list?

→ SLL: one link; DLL: next + previous links.

41. What is a stack?

→ Stack: LIFO structure; operations: push, pop, peek.

42. What is a queue?

→ Queue: FIFO structure; operations: enqueue, dequeue.
 🔹 JAVA / OOP

1. Define class and object

→ Class: blueprint; Object: instance of class.

2. What is a constructor?
→ Constructor: initializes object at creation.

3. Use of this keyword?

→ this: refers to current object.

4. Use of super and final?

→ super: access parent; final: cannot change/override.

5. What is garbage collection?

→ GC: removes unused objects from memory.

6. What is abstract class?

→ Abstract class: cannot instantiate, may have abstract methods.

7. Overloading vs overriding?
→ Overloading: same method different params; Overriding: redefine parent method.

8. What is inheritance?
→ Inheritance: child gets properties of parent.

9. What is Object class?

→ Object: root class of all Java classes.

10. What is package?

→ Package: collection of related classes.

11. Abstract class vs interface?

→ Interface: only methods; Abstract: methods + variables.

12. StringTokenizer use?

→ Used to split string into tokens.

13. What is exception?

→ Exception: runtime error.

14. throw vs throws?

→ throw: create exception; throws: declare exception.
15. finally block use?
→ finally: always executes.

16. Checked vs unchecked exception?

→ Checked: compile-time; Unchecked: runtime.

17. Presumptive vs resumptive model?

→ Presumptive: resume execution; Resumptive: fix & continue.

18. String vs StringBuffer vs StringBuilder?

→ String: immutable; Buffer: mutable (slow); Builder: mutable (fast).

19. What is thread?

→ Thread: smallest unit of process.

20. What is daemon thread?

→ Daemon: background service thread.

21. What is synchronization?

→ Synchronization: control shared resource access.

22. What are wrapper classes?

→ Convert primitive types into objects.

23. Autoboxing vs unboxing?

→ Autoboxing: primitive→object; Unboxing: object→primitive.

24. Applet vs application?

→ Applet: browser-based; Application: standalone.

25. What is JIT compiler?

→ JIT: compiles bytecode at runtime.

26. OOP principles?

→ Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism, Abstraction.

27. What is bytecode?

→ Bytecode: intermediate code for JVM.

28. Heavyweight vs lightweight components?

→ Heavyweight: OS dependent; Lightweight: Java-based.

29. public vs private vs protected?

→ public: everywhere; private: same class; protected: package + subclass.
30. Static methods/variables?
→ Belong to class, not object.

🔹 COMPUTER NETWORKS

1. Define Unicasting, Multicasting and Broadcasting

→ Unicast: one-to-one; Multicast: one-to-group; Broadcast: one-to-all.

2. What are network topologies?

→ Topologies: physical layout of network (Bus, Star, Ring, Mesh).

3. Define bit rate and bit interval

→ Bit rate: bits/sec; Bit interval: time taken for one bit.

4. Define Shannon Capacity

→ Shannon Capacity: maximum data rate of a communication channel.

5. What is multiplexing?
→ Multiplexing: sending multiple signals over a single channel.

6. Categories of multiplexing
→ FDM (frequency), TDM (time), WDM (wavelength).

7. OSI model layers

→ 7 layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application.

8. TCP/IP model layers

→ 4 layers: Link, Internet, Transport, Application.

9. Character stuffing & bit stuffing

→ Add extra bits/characters to avoid confusion in data transmission.

10. What is packet filter?

→ Packet filter: controls packets based on rules (firewall).

11. What are IGP, EGP, BGP?

→ Routing protocols: IGP (inside), EGP/BGP (between networks).

12. What is MAC address?

→ MAC: unique hardware address of a device.

13. Types of transmission media

→ Guided (wired) and unguided (wireless).
14. What is ICMP?
→ ICMP: used for error reporting (e.g., ping).

15. Difference between ARP and RARP

→ ARP: IP → MAC; RARP: MAC → IP.

16. Bit rate vs baud rate

→ Bit rate: data bits/sec; Baud: signal changes/sec.

17. Define Ethernet

→ Ethernet: common LAN technology.

18. Half-duplex vs full-duplex

→ Half: one direction; Full: both directions simultaneously.

19. Define LAN, MAN, WAN

→ LAN: small; MAN: city; WAN: large/global network.

20. Analog vs digital signals

→ Analog: continuous; Digital: discrete.

21. What is redundancy?

→ Redundancy: extra bits for error detection/correction.

22. What is Hamming code?

→ Error detection and correction technique.

23. What is HDLC?

→ HDLC: data link layer protocol.

24. What is TELNET?

→ TELNET: remote login protocol.

25. What is DNS?

→ DNS: converts domain name to IP address.

26. TCP vs UDP

→ TCP: reliable; UDP: fast but unreliable.

27. What is ALOHA?

→ Random access protocol for network communication.

28. What is Pure ALOHA?

→ Data sent anytime without time slots.
29. What is Slotted ALOHA?
→ Data sent in fixed time slots (reduces collision).

🔹 OPERATING SYSTEM

1. Difference between protection and security

→ Protection: access control; Security: overall system safety.

2. What is a distributed system?

→ Multiple systems working as a single system.

3. What are system calls?

→ Interface to request OS services (file, process, device).

4. Define process
→ Process: program in execution.

5. Process states
→ New, Ready, Running, Waiting, Terminated.

6. What is PCB?
→ Process Control Block: stores process info.

7. Define thread
→ Thread: lightweight unit of a process.

8. What is CPU scheduler?

→ Selects next process for execution.

9. CPU scheduler is also called

→ Short-term scheduler.

10. Preemptive vs non-preemptive scheduling

→ Preemptive: interrupt allowed; Non: no interruption.

11. What is dispatcher?

→ Gives CPU to selected process.

12. Scheduling criteria

→ CPU utilization, waiting time, turnaround time.

13. Define throughput

→ Number of processes completed per time.
14. Define turnaround time
→ Total time taken by process.

15. Define waiting time

→ Time spent in ready queue.

16. Define response time

→ Time to first response.

17. Scheduling algorithms

→ FCFS, SJF, Priority, Round Robin.

18. What is synchronization?

→ Control access to shared resources.

19. What is buffer?

→ Temporary memory storage.

20. Critical section problem

→ Shared data access problem among processes.

21. Requirements of critical section

→ Mutual exclusion, progress, bounded waiting.

22. What is semaphore?

→ Tool for process synchronization.

23. Semaphore is a
→ Signaling mechanism.

24. What is deadlock?

→ Processes stuck waiting for each other.

25. Steps in process utilization

→ Request → use → release resource.

26. Deadlock conditions

→ Mutual exclusion, hold & wait, no preemption, circular wait.

27. Resource allocation graph

→ Graph showing resource usage.

→ 28. Deadlock handling methods: Prevention, avoidance, detection.

29. What is mutex?

→ Lock for mutual exclusion.
30. Data structures for Banker’s algorithm
→ Matrices and arrays.

31. Deadlock recovery

→ Terminate process or release resources.

32. What is swapping?

→ Moving process between memory and disk.

33. External fragmentation

→ Free memory scattered.

34. Demand paging

→ Load pages only when needed.

35. File operations

→ Create, read, write, delete.

36. File access methods

→ Sequential and direct.

37. Directory structures

→ Single-level, tree, graph.

38. Disk allocation methods

→ Contiguous, linked, indexed.

39. System and network threats

→ Virus, hacking, DoS attacks.

🔹 DBMS

1. Cardinality in relational model

→ Number of tuples (rows).

2. Relational calculus is
→ Non-procedural query language.

3. View of total database

→ Database schema.

4. Cartesian product
→ All combinations of two tables.
5. DML is used for
→ Data manipulation (insert, update, delete).

6. ‘AS’ in SQL
→ Used for renaming.

7. ODBC stands for

→ Open Database Connectivity.

8. Database architecture
→ 3-level: external, conceptual, internal.

9. Schema is written in
→ DDL.

10. External level is

→ User view of database.

11. Weak entity

→ Entity without primary key.

12. Attributes in ER diagram

→ Represented by ellipse.

13. P1 → P2 means
→ NOT P1 OR P2.

14. Logical schema

→ Structure of database logically.

15. Related fields form

→ Record.

16. DB environment excludes

→ Hardware.

17. Standard query language

→ SQL.

18. Application view of data

→ View.

19. Entity set symbol

→ Rectangle.
20. Database properties
→ Consistency, integrity.

21. Embedded DB language

→ Embedded SQL.

22. Record in RDBMS

→ Tuple.

23. Feature of relational model

→ Data in tables.

24. Conceptual design

→ Logical database design.

25. Sequential file organization

→ Stored in order.

26. Subschema
→ User-specific view.

27. COUNT function

→ Returns number of rows.

28. False statement

→ Depends on options.

29. Advantage of DBMS

→ Reduces redundancy.

30. Query language purpose

→ Retrieve data.

31. Not part of transaction processing

→ Hardware.

32. Schema definition

→ Using DDL.

33. Key transformation method

→ Hashing.

34. Data independence

→ Separate data from programs.
35. Change table definition
→ ALTER command.

36. Weak entity symbol

→ Double rectangle.

37. SET concept used in

→ Relational model.

38. Relational algebra

→ Procedural query language.

39. Key between tables

→ Foreign key.

40. Combine tables operation

→ Join.

41. Fast file access method

→ Indexed file.

42. Entity properties

→ Attributes.

43. Use files over DBMS when

→ Small/simple data.

44. Conceptual model

→ High-level design.

45. Relationship between entities

→ Association.

46. Select certain columns

→ Projection.

47. Valid SQL type

→ INT, VARCHAR.

48. Row in RDBMS

→ Tuple.

49. Union-compatible operation

→ Union.
50. DDL full form
→ Data Definition Language.