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NET Interview Questions

1. Does C# support multiple-inheritance? No. 2. Who is a protected class-level variable available to? It is available to any sub-class (a class inheriting this class). 3. When you inherit a protected class-level variable, who is it available to? Classes in the same namespace. 4. Are private class-level variables inherited? Yes, but they are not accessible. Although they are not visible or accessible via the class interface, they are inherited. 5. Describe the accessibility modifier protected internal. It is available to classes that are within the same assembly and derived from the specified base class. 6. Whats the top .NET class that everything is derived from? System.Object. 7. What does the term immutable mean? The data value may not be changed. Note: The variable may be changed, but the original immutable data value was discarded and a new data value was created in memory. 8. Whats the difference between System.String and System.Text.StringBuilder classes? System.String is immutable. System.StringBuilder was designed with the purpose of having a mutable string where a variety of operations can be performed. 9. Whats the advantage of using System.Text.StringBuilder over System.String? StringBuilder is more efficient in cases where there is a large amount of string manipulation. Strings are immutable, so each time a string is changed, a new instance in memory is created. 10. Can you store multiple data types in System.Array? No. 11. Whats the difference between the System.Array.CopyTo() and System.Array.Clone()? The Clone() method returns a new array (a shallow copy) object containing all the elements in the original array. The CopyTo() method copies the elements into another existing array. Both references to the same object as the elements in the original array. A deep copy (which neither of these methods performs) would create a new instance of each elements object, resulting in a different, yet identical object. 12. How can you sort the elements of the array in descending order? By calling Sort() and the Reverse() methods. 13. Whats the .NET collection class that allows an element to be accessed using a unique key? HashTable. 14. What class is underneath the SortedList class? A sorted HashTable. 15. Will the finally block get executed if an exception has not occurred? Yes. 16. Whats the C# syntax to catch any possible exception? A catch block that catches the exception of type System.Exception. You can also omit the parameter data type in this case and just write catch {}. 17. Can multiple catch blocks be executed for a single try statement? No. Once the proper catch block processed, control is transferred to the finally block ( if there are any).

18. Explain the three services model commonly known as a three-tier application. Presentation (UI), Business (logic and underlying code) and Data (from storage or other sources). 19. Explain serialization? Serialization is a process of converting an object into a stream of bytes. .NET has 2 serializers namely XMLSerializer and SOAP/BINARY Serializer. Serialization is mainly used in the concept of .NET Remoting. 20. Whats MSIL, and why should my developers need an appreciation of it if at all? MSIL is the Microsoft Intermediate Language. All .NET compatible languages will get converted to MSIL. MSIL also allows the .NET Framework to JIT compile the assembly on the installed computer.

Class Questions
1. What is the syntax to inherit from a class in C#? Place a colon and then the name of the base class. Example: class MyNewClass : MyBaseClass 2. Can you explain what inheritance is and an example of when you might use it? When you want to inherit (use the functionality of) another class. Example: With a base class named Employee, a Manager class could be derived from the Employee base class. 3. Can you prevent your class from being inherited by another class? Yes. The keyword sealed will prevent the class from being inherited. The developer trying to derive from your class will get a message: cannot inherit from Sealed Class ClassName. 4. Can you allow a class to be inherited, but prevent the method from being over-ridden? Yes. Just leave the class public and make the method sealed. 5. Whats an abstract class? A class that cannot be instantiated. An abstract class is a class that must be inherited and have the methods overridden. An abstract class is essentially a blueprint for a class without an implementation. 6. When do you absolutely have to declare a class abstract? - When the class itself is inherited from an abstract class, but not all base abstract methods have been overridden. - When at least one of the methods in the class is abstract. 7. What is an interface class? - Interfaces, like classes, define a set of properties, methods, and events. But unlike classes, interfaces do not provide implementation. They are implemented by classes, and defined as separate entities from classes. - Its an abstract class with public abstract methods all of which must be implemented in the inherited classes. 8. Why cant you specify the accessibility modifier for methods inside the interface? They all must be public, and are therefore public by default. 9. Can you inherit multiple interfaces? Yes. .NET does support multiple interfaces. 10. What happens if you inherit multiple interfaces and they have conflicting method names? Its up to you to implement the method inside your own class, so implementation is left entirely up to you. This might cause a problem on a higher-level scale if similarly named methods from different interfaces expect different data, but as far as compiler cares youre ok. To Do: Investigate 11. Whats the difference between an interface and abstract class? In an interface class, all methods are abstract there is no implementation. In an abstract class some methods can be concrete. In an interface class, no accessibility modifiers are allowed. An abstract class may have accessibility modifiers.

12. What is the difference between a Struct and a Class? Structs are value-type variables and are thus saved on the stack, additional overhead but faster retrieval. Another difference is that structs cannot inherit.

Method and Property Questions

1. Whats the implicit name of the parameter that gets passed into the set method / property of a class? Value. The data type of the value parameter is defined by whatever data type the property is declared as. 2. What does the keyword virtual declare for a method or property? The method or property can be overridden. 3. Can you inherit private class-level variables? Yes, they can be inherited but they are not accessible in the derived class, so it looks as if it is not inherited. 4. How can you overload a method? Different parameter data types, different number of parameters, different order of parameters. 5. How is method overriding different from method overloading? When overriding a method, you change the behavior of the method for the derived class. Overloading a method simply involves having another method with the same name within the class. 6. Can you declare an override method to be static if the original method is not static? No. The signature of the virtual method must remain the same (Note: Only the keyword virtual is changed to keyword override) 7. What are the different ways a method can be overloaded? Different parameter data types, different number of parameters, different order of parameters. 8. If a base class has a number of overloaded constructors, and an inheriting class has a number of overloaded constructors; can you enforce a call from an inherited constructor to a specific base constructor? Yes, just place a colon, and then keyword base (parameter list to invoke the appropriate constructor) in the overloaded constructor definition inside the inherited class. 9. What is a Constructor? It is the first method that is called on instantiation of a type. It provides way to set default values for data before the object is available for use. It performs other necessary functions before the object is available for use. 10. What is a Destructor? It is called just before an object is destroyed. It can be used to run clean-up code. You cant control when a destructor is called since object clean up by the CLR. 11. Can you override private virtual methods? No, moreover, you cannot access private methods in inherited classes, have to be protected in the base class to allow any sort of access.

Events and Delegates

1. What is a delegate? A delegate object encapsulates a reference to a method. Enabling an indirect method call bound at runtime. Declaring a delegate defines a reference type which can be used to encapsulate a method having a specific signature. 2. Whats a multicast delegate? A delegate that has multiple handlers assigned to it. Each assigned handler (method) is called. 3. What is an Event? When an action is performed, this action is noticed by the computer application based on which output is displayed. These actions are called events. Examples of event are pressing of the keys on keyboard, clicking of the mouse. Likewise, there are a number of events which capture your actions.

XML Documentation Questions

1. Is XML case-sensitive? Yes. 2. Whats the difference between // comments, /**/ comments and /// comments? Single-line comments, multi-line comments, and XML documentation comments. 3. How do you generate documentation from the C# file commented property with a command-line compiler? Compile it with the /doc switch. 4. Explain what a diffgram is, and a good use for one? The DiffGram is one of the two XML formats that you can use to render DataSet object contents to XML. A good use is reading data data to an XML file to be sent to a Web Service.

Debugging and Testing Questions

1. What debugging tools come with the .NET SDK? - CorDBG command-line debugger. To use CorDbg, you must compile the original C# file using the /debug switch. - DbgCLR graphic debugger. Visual Studio .NET uses the DbgCLR. 2. What does assert() method do? In debug compilation, assert takes in a Boolean condition as a parameter, and shows the error dialog if the condition is false. The program proceeds without any interruption if the condition is true. 3. Whats the difference between the Debug class and Trace class? Documentation looks the same. Use Debug class for debug builds, use Trace class for both debug and release builds. 4. Why are there five tracing levels in System.Diagnostics.TraceSwitcher? The tracing dumps can be quite verbose. For applications that are constantly running you run the risk of overloading the machine and the hard drive. Five levels range from None to Verbose, allowing you to fine-tune the tracing activities. 5. Where is the output of TextWriterTraceListener redirected? To the Console or a text file depending on the parameter passed to the constructor? 6. How do you debug an ASP.NET Web application? Attach the aspnet_wp.exe process to the DbgClr debugger. 7. What are three test cases you should go through in unit testing? - Positive test cases (correct data, correct output). - Negative test cases (broken or missing data, proper handling). - Exception test cases (exceptions are thrown and caught properly). 8. Can you change the value of a variable while debugging a C# application? Yes. If you are debugging via Visual Studio.NET, just go to Immediate window.

ADO.NET and Database Questions

1. What is the role of the DataReader class in ADO.NET connections? It returns a read-only, forward-only rowset from the data source. A DataReader provides fast access when a forward-only sequential read is needed.

2. What are advantages and disadvantages of Microsoft-provided data provider classes in ADO.NET? SQLServer.NET data provider is high-speed and robust, but requires SQL Server license purchased from Microsoft. OLE-DB.NET is universal for accessing other sources, like Oracle, DB2, Microsoft Access and Informix. OLE-DB.NET is a .NET layer on top of the OLE layer, so its not as fast and efficient as SQLServer.NET. 3. What is the wildcard character in SQL? Lets say you want to query database with LIKE for all employees whose name starts with La. The wildcard character is %, the proper query with LIKE would involve La%. 4. Explain ACID rule of thumb for transactions. A transaction must be: - Atomic it is one unit of work and does not dependent on previous and following transactions. - Consistent data is either committed or roll back, no in-between case where something has been updated and something hasnt. - Isolated no transaction sees the intermediate results of the current transaction. - Durable the values persist if the data had been committed even if the system crashes right after. 5. What connections does Microsoft SQL support? They support Windows Authentication (via Active Directory) and SQL authentication (via Microsoft SQL Server username and password). 6. Between Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication, which one is trusted and which one is untrusted? Windows Authentication is trusted because the username and password are checked with the Active Directory, the SQL Server authentication is untrusted, since SQL Server is the only verifier participating in the transaction. 7. What does the Initial Catalog parameter define in the connection string? It defines the database name to connect to. 8. What does the Dispose method do with the connection object? It deletes if from the memory. It releases resources including unmanaged resources and performs the same action as Close(). 9. What is a pre-requisite for connection pooling? Multiple processes must agree that they will share the same connection, where every parameter is the same, including the security settings. The connection string must be identical.

Assembly Questions
1. Define assembly? An assembly is the primary unit of a .NET application. It includes an assembly manifest that describes the assembly. 2. What is Assembly manifest? The manifest of an assembly contains assemblys data like version, scope, security information (strong name), ect. It also contains a reference to the resource and classes. It is stored in either an .exe or a .dll with MSIL code. 3. What is GAC (global assembly cache)? GAC is an area of memory reserved to store the assemblies of all .NET applications that are running on a certain machine. It shares assemblies among multiple .NET applications. The assemblies must have a strong name and must be publicly shared to be installed in the GAC. 4. How is the DLL Hell problem solved in .NET? Assembly versioning allows the application to specify not only the library it needs to run (which was available under Win32), but also the version of the assembly.

5. What are the ways to deploy and assembly? An MSI installer, a CAB archive, and XCOPY command. 6. What is a satellite assembly? When you write a multilingual or multi-cultural application in .NET, and want to distribute the core application separately from the localized modules, the localized assemblies that modify the core applications are called satellite assemblies. 7. What namespaces are necessary to create a localized application? System.Globalization and System.Resources 8. What is the smallest unit of execution in .NET? An Assembly is the smallest. 9. When should you call the garbage collector in .NET? As a good rule, you should not call the garbage collector. However, you could call the garbage collector when you are done using a large object (or set of objects) to force the garbage collector to dispose of those very large objects from memory. However, this is usually not a good practice. You can force garbage collector to run using System.GC.Collect(). 10. How do you convert a value-type to a reference-type? Use Boxing to convert. 11. What happens in memory when you Box and Unbox a value-type? Boxing converts a value-type to a reference-type, thus storing the object on the heap. Unboxing converts a reference-type to a value-type, thus storing the value on the stack. 12. Whats the implicit name of the parameter that gets passed into the class set method? Value and its data type depend on whatever variable were changing. 13. C# provides a default constructor for me. I write a constructor that takes a string as a parameter, but want to keep the no parameter one. How many constructors should I write? Two. Once you write at least one constructor, C# cancels the freebie constructor, and now you have to write one yourself, even if there is no implementation in it.

Additional Questions
1. What is the role of data provider? The .NET data provider layer resides between the application and the database. Its task is to take care of all their interactions. Examples: - SQL Server data provider - OLEDB data provider - ODBC data provider ADO.NET supports the following OLE DB Providers: - SQLOLEDB Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server - MSDAORA Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle - Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Jet 2. Describe how a .NET application is compiled and executed. From the source code, the compiler generates Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) which is further used for the creation of an EXE or DLL. The CLR processes these at runtime. Thus, compiling is the process of generating the MSIL. They way you do it in .NET is as follows: - Right-click and select Build / Ctrl-Shift-B / Build menu, Build command

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- F5 compile and run the application. - Ctrl+F5 compile and run the application without debugging. Compilation can be done with Debug or Release configuration. The difference between these two is that in the debug configuration, only an assembly is generated without optimization. However, in release complete optimization is performed without debug symbols. Describe the role of inetinfo.exe, aspnet_isapi.dll and aspnet_wp.exe in the page loading process. inetinfo.exe is the Microsoft IIS server running, handling ASP.NET requests among other things. When an ASP.NET request is received (usually a file with .aspx extension), the ISAPI filter aspnet_isapi.dll takes care of it by passing the request to the actual worker aspnet_wp.exe. Whats the difference between Response.Write() and Response.Output.Write()? Response.Output.Write() allows you to write formatted output. What methods are fired during the page load? Init() when the page is instantiated. Load() when the page is loaded into server memory PreRender() the brief moment before the page is displayed to the user as HTML Unload() when page finishes loading What namespace does the Web page belong in the .NET Framework class hierarchy? System.Web.UI.Page Where do you store the information about the users locale? System.Web.UI.Page.Culture Whats the difference between CodeBehind = MyCode.apsx.cs and Src = Mycode.aspx.cs ? CodeBehind is relevant to Visual Studio.NET only. Whats a bubbled event? When you have a complex control, like DataGrid, writing an event processing routine for each object (cell, button, row, ect.) is quite tedious. The controls can bubble up their event handlers, allowing the main DataGrid event handler to take care of its constituents. Suppose you want a certain ASP.NET function executed on MouseOver for a certain button. Where do you add an event handler? Add an OnMouseOver attribute to the button. Example: btnSubmit.Attributes.Add(onmouseover, soumeClientCodeHere();); What data types does the RangeValidator control support? Integer, String, and Date Explain the differences between Server-side and Client-side code? Server-side code executes on the server. Client-side code executes in the clients browser. What type of code (server or client) is found in a Code-Behind class? The answer is server-side code since code-behind is executed on the server. However, during the code-behinds execution on the server, it can render client-side code such as JavaScript to be processed in the clients browser. But just to be clear, code behind executes on the server, thus making it server-side code. Should user input data validation occur server-side or client-side? Why? All user input data validation should occur on the server at minimum. Additionally, client-side validation can be performed where deemed appropriate and feasible to provide a richer, more responsive experience for the user. What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I choose one over the other? Server.Transfer transfers page processing from one page directly to the next page without making a round-trip back to the clients browser. This provides a faster response with a little less overhead on the server.

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Server.Transfer does not update the clients url history list or current url. Response.Redirect is used to redirect the users browser to another page or site. This performs a trip back to the client where the clients browser is redirected to the new page. The users browser history list is updated to reflect the new address. Can you explain the difference between and ADO.NET Dataset and ADO Recordset? Valid answers are: - A DataSet is designed to work without any continuing connection to the original data source. - Data in a DataSet is bulk-loaded, rather than being loaded on demand. - Theres no concept of cursor types in DataSet. - DataSets have no current record pointer. You can use Foreach loops to move through the data. - You can store many edits in a DataSet, and write them to the original data source in a single operation. - Though the DataSet is universal, other objects in ADO.NET come in different versions for different data sources. What is the Global.asax used for? The Global.asax (including the Global.asax.cs file) is used to implement application and session level events. What are the Application_Start and Session_Start subroutines used for? This is where you can set the specific variables for the Applications and Session objects. Describe the difference between inline and code behind. Inline is code written alongside the html in a page. Code-behind is code written in a separate file and referenced by the .aspx page. Which method do you invoke on the DataAdapter control to load your generated dataset with data? The Fill() method. Can you edit data in the Repeater control? No, it just reads the information from its data source. Which template must you provide, in order to display data in a Repeater control? ItemTemplate. How can you provide an alternating color scheme in a Repeater control? Use the AlternatingItemTemplate. What property must you set, and what method must you call in your code, in order to bind the data from a data source to the Repeater control? You must set the DataSource property and call the Databind method. What base class do all Web Forms inherit from? The Page class. Name two properties common in every validation control? ControlToValidate property and Text property. Which property on a Combo Box do you set with a column name, prior to setting the DataSource, to display data in the combo box? DataTextField Property. Which control would you use if you need to make sure the values in two different controls matched? CompareValidator control. How many classes can a single .NET DLL contain? It can contain many classes. What is ViewState? ViewState allows the state of objects (serializable) to be stored in a hidden field on the page. ViewState is transported to the client and back to the server, and is not stored on the server or any other external source. ViewState is used to retain the state of server-side objects between postbacks.

31. What is the lifespan for items stored in ViewState? Item stored in ViewState exist for the life of the current page. This includes postbacks (to the same page). 32. What does the EnabeViewState property do? Why would I want it on or off? It allows the page to save the users input on a form across postbacks. It saves the server-side values for a given control into ViewState, which is stored as a hidden value on the page before sending the page to the clients browser. When the page is posted back to the server, the server control is recreated with the state stored in viewstate. 33. What are the different types of Session state management options available with ASP.NET? ASP.NET provides In-Process and Out-of-Process state management. In-Process stores the session in memory on the web server. This requires the sticky-server (or no load-balancing) so that the user is always reconnected to the same web server. Out-of-Process Session state management stores data in an external data source. The external data source may be either a SQL Server or a State Server service. Out-of-Process state management requires that all objects stored in session are serializable.