Interview Questions : .Net Framework
1. What do you know about .NET assemblies?
Assemblies are the smallest units of versioning and deployment in the .NET application. Assemblies are also the building blocks for programs such as Web services, Windows services, serviced components, and .NET remoting applications.
2. What’s the difference between private and shared assembly?
Private assembly is used inside an application only and does not have to be identified by a strong name. Shared assembly can be used by multiple applications and has to have a strong name.
3. What’s a strong name?
A strong name includes the name of the assembly, version number, culture identity, and a public key token.
4. How can you tell the application to look for assemblies at the locations other than its own install?
Use the directive in the XML .config file for a given application.
< probing privatePath=c:\mylibs; bin\debug />
should do the trick. Or you can add additional search paths in the Properties box of the deployed application.
5. How can you debug failed assembly binds?
Use the Assembly Binding Log Viewer (fuslogvw.exe) to find out the paths searched.
Where are shared assemblies stored?
Global assembly cache.
6. How can you create a strong name for a .NET assembly?
With the help of Strong Name tool (sn.exe).
7. Where’s global assembly cache located on the system?
Usually C:\winnt\assembly or C:\windows\assembly.
8. Can you have two files with the same file name in GAC?
Yes, remember that GAC is a very special folder, and while normally you would not be able to place two files with the same name into a Windows folder, GAC differentiates by version number as well, so it’s possible for MyApp.dll and MyApp.dll to co-exist in GAC if the first one is version 1.0.0.0 and the second one is 1.1.0.0.
So let’s say I have an application that uses MyApp.dll assembly, version 1.0.0.0. There is a security bug in that assembly, and I publish the patch, issuing it under name MyApp.dll 1.1.0.0. How do I tell the client applications that are already installed to start using this new MyApp.dll?
Use publisher policy. To configure a publisher policy, use the publisher policy configuration file, which uses a format similar app .config file. But unlike the app .config file, a publisher policy file needs to be compiled into an assembly and placed in the GAC.
9. What is delay signing?
Delay signing allows you to place a shared assembly in the GAC by signing the assembly with just the public key. This allows the assembly to be signed with the private key at a later stage, when the development process is complete and the component or assembly is ready to be deployed. This process enables developers to work with shared assemblies as if they were strongly named, and it secures the private key of the signature from being accessed at different stages of development.
10. Is there an equivalent of exit() for quitting a C# .NET application?
Yes, you can use System.Environment.Exit(int exitCode) to exit the application or Application.Exit() if it's a Windows Forms app.
11. Can you prevent your class from being inherited and becoming a base class for some other classes?
Yes, that is what keyword sealed in the class definition is for. The developer trying to derive from your class will get a message: cannot inherit from Sealed class WhateverBaseClassName. It is the same concept as final class in Java.
12. Is XML case-sensitive?
Yes, so and are different elements.
13. If a base class has a bunch of overloaded constructors, and an inherited class has another bunch of overloaded constructors, can you enforce a call from an inherited constructor to an arbitrary 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.
14. I was trying to use an "out int" parameter in one of my functions. How should I declare the variable that I am passing to it?
You should declare the variable as an int, but when you pass it in you must specify it as 'out', like the following:
int i;
foo(out i);
where foo is declared as follows:
[return-type] foo(out int o) { }
How do I make a DLL in C#?
You need to use the /target:library compiler option.
15. How do I simulate optional parameters to COM calls?
You must use the Missing class and pass Missing.Value (in System.Reflection) for any values that have optional parameters.
16. Will finally block get executed if the exception had not occurred?
Yes.
17. Is there a way to force garbage collection?
Yes. Set all references to null and then call System.GC.Collect(). If you need to have some objects destructed, and System.GC.Collect() doesn't seem to be doing it for you, you can force finalizers to be run by setting all the references to the object to null and then calling System.GC.RunFinalizers().
18. 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 application are called satellite assemblies.
19. How do I create a multi language, multi file assembly?
Unfortunately, this is currently not supported in the IDE. To do this from the command line, you must compile your projects into netmodules (/target:module on the C# compiler), and then use the command line tool al.exe (alink) to link these netmodules together.
20. 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
21. What is the equivalent to regsvr32 and regsvr32 /u a file in .NET development?
Try using RegAsm.exe. The general syntax would be: RegAsm. A good description of RegAsm and its associated switches is located in the .NET SDK docs. Just search on "Assembly Registration Tool".Explain ACID rule of thumb for transactions.
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 hasnot), 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).
22. Where is the output of TextWriterTraceListener redirected?
To the Console or a text file depending on the parameter passed to the constructor.
23. How do I create a multilanguage, single-file assembly?
This is currently not supported by Visual Studio .NET.
24. Why cannot you specify the accessibility modifier for methods inside the interface?
They all must be public. Therefore, to prevent you from getting the false impression that you have any freedom of choice, you are not allowed to specify any accessibility, it is public by default.
25. Is it possible to restrict the scope of a field/method of a class to the classes in the same namespace?
There is no way to restrict to a namespace. Namespaces are never units of protection. But if you're using assemblies, you can use the 'internal' access modifier to restrict access to only within the assembly.
26. Why do I get a syntax error when trying to declare a variable called checked?
The word checked is a keyword in C#.
27. Why are there five tracing levels in System.Diagnostics.TraceSwitcher?
The tracing dumps can be quite verbose and for some applications that are constantly running you run the risk of overloading the machine and the hard drive there. Five levels range from None to Verbose, allowing to fine-tune the tracing activities.
28. 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.
29. 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.
What are the ways to deploy an assembly?
An MSI installer, a CAB archive, and XCOPY command.
30. 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 application are called satellite assemblies.
31. What namespaces are necessary to create a localized application?
System.Globalization and System.Resources.
32. What is the smallest unit of execution in .NET?
An Assembly.
33. 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.
34. How do you convert a value-type to a reference-type?
Use Boxing.
35. Difference between a sub and a function.
-A Sub Procedure is a method will not return a value
-A sub procedure will be defined with a “Sub” keyword
Sub ShowName(ByVal myName As String)
Console.WriteLine(”My name is: ” & myName)
End Sub
-A function is a method that will return value(s).
-A function will be defined with a “Function” keyword
Function FindSum(ByVal num1 As Integer, ByVal num2 As Integer) As Integer
Dim sum As Integer = num1 + num2
Return sum
End Function
36. Explain manifest & metadata.
Manifest: Manifest describes assembly itself. Assembly Name, version number, culture, strong name, list of all files, Type references, and referenced assemblies.
Metadata: Metadata describes contents in an assembly classes, interfaces, enums, structs, etc., and their containing namespaces, the name of each type, its visibility/scope, its base class, the nterfaces it implemented, its methods and their scope, and each method’s parameters, type’s properties, and so on.
37. What is .NET?
.NET is essentially a framework for software development. It is similar in nature to any other software development framework (J2EE etc) in that it provides a set of runtime containers/capabilities, and a rich set of pre-built functionality in the form of class libraries and APIs
The .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and other applications. It consists of three main parts: the Common Language Runtime, the Framework classes, and ASP.NET.
38. How many languages .NET is supporting now?
When .NET was introduced it came with several languages. VB.NET, C#, COBOL and Perl, etc. The site DotNetLanguages.Net says 44 languages are supported.
39. How is .NET able to support multiple languages?
A language should comply with the Common Language Runtime standard to become a .NET language. In .NET, code is compiled to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL for short). This is called as Managed Code. This Managed code is run in .NET environment. So after compilation to this IL the language is not a barrier. A code can call or use a function written in another language.
40. How ASP .NET different from ASP?
Scripting is separated from the HTML, Code is compiled as a DLL, these DLLs can be executed on the server.
41. What is smart navigation?
The cursor position is maintained when the page gets refreshed due to the server side validation and the page gets refreshed.
42. What is view state?
The web is stateless. But in ASP.NET, the state of a page is maintained in the in the page itself automatically. How? The values are encrypted and saved in hidden controls. this is done automatically by the ASP.NET. This can be switched off / on for a single control
43. How do you validate the controls in an ASP .NET page?
Using special validation controls that are meant for this. We have Range Validator, Email Validator.
44. Can the validation be done in the server side? Or this can be done only in the Client side?
Client side is done by default. Server side validation is also possible. We can switch off the client side and server side can be done.
45. What is "Common Type System" (CTS)?
CTS defines all of the basic types that can be used in the .NET Framework and the operations performed on those type.
All this time we have been talking about language interoperability, and .NET Class Framework. None of this is possible without all the language sharing the same data types. What this means is that an int should mean the same in VB, VC++, C# and all other .NET compliant languages. This is achieved through introduction of Common Type System (CTS).
46. What is "Common Language Specification" (CLS)?
CLS is the collection of the rules and constraints that every language (that seeks to achieve .NET compatibility) must follow. It is a subsection of CTS and it specifies how it shares and extends one another libraries.
47. What is "Common Language Runtime" (CLR)?
CLR is .NET equivalent of Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It is the runtime that converts a MSIL code into the host machine language code, which is then executed appropriately. The CLR is the execution engine for .NET Framework applications. It provides a number of services, including:
- Code management (loading and execution)
- Application memory isolation
- Verification of type safety
- Conversion of IL to native code.
- Access to metadata (enhanced type information)
- Managing memory for managed objects
- Enforcement of code access security
- Exception handling, including cross-language exceptions
- Interoperation between managed code, COM objects, and pre-existing DLL's (unmanaged code and data)
- Automation of object layout
- Support for developer services (profiling, debugging, and so on).
48. What are the Types of Assemblies?
Assemblies are of two types:
1. Private Assemblies
2. Shared Assemblies
Private Assemblies: The assembly is intended only for one application. The files of that assembly must be placed in the same folder as the application or in a sub folder. No other application will be able to make a call to this assembly. The advantage of having a private assembly is that, it makes naming the assembly very easy, since the developer need not worry about name clashes with other assemblies. As long as the assembly has a unique name within the concerned application, there won't be any problems.
Shared Assemblies: If the assembly is to be made into a Shared Assembly, then the naming conventions are very strict since it has to be unique across the entire system. The naming conventions should also take care of newer versions of the component being shipped. These are accomplished by giving the assembly a Shared Name. Then the assembly is placed in the global assembly cache, which is a folder in the file system reserved for shared assemblies.
49. What is an Intermediate language?
Assemblies are made up of IL code modules and the metadata that describes them. Although programs may be compiled via an IDE or the command line, in fact, they are simply translated into IL, not machine code. The actual machine code is not generated until the function that requires it is called. This is the just-in-time, or JIT, compilation feature of .NET. JIT compilation happens at runtime for a variety of reasons, one of the most ambitious being Microsoft's desire for cross-platform .NET adoption. If a CLR is built for another operating system (UNIX or Mac), the same assemblies will run in addition to the Microsoft platforms. The hope is that .NET assemblies are write-once-run-anywhere applications. This is a .NET feature that works behind-the-scenes, ensuring that developers are not limited to writing applications for one single line of products. No one has demonstrated whether or not this promise will ever truly materialize.
CTS/CLS
The MSIL Instruction Set Specification is included with the .NET SDK, along with the IL Assembly Language Programmers Reference. If a developer wants to write custom .NET programming languages, these are the necessary specifications and syntax. The CTS and CLS define the types and syntaxes that every .NET language needs to embrace. An application may not expose these features, but it must consider them when communicating through IL.
ASP.NET Authentication Providers and IIS Security
ASP.NET implements authentication using authentication providers, which are code modules that verify credentials and implement other security functionality such as cookie generation. ASP.NET supports the following three authentication providers:
Forms Authentication: Using this provider causes unauthenticated requests to be redirected to a specified HTML form using client side redirection. The user can then supply logon credentials, and post the form back to the server. If the application authenticates the request (using application-specific logic), ASP.NET issues a cookie that contains the credentials or a key for reacquiring the client identity. Subsequent requests are issued with the cookie in the request headers, which means that subsequent authentications are unnecessary.
Passport Authentication: This is a centralized authentication service provided by Microsoft that offers a single logon facility and membership services for participating sites. ASP.NET, in conjunction with the Microsoft® Passport software development kit (SDK), provides similar functionality as Forms Authentication to Passport users.
Windows Authentication: This provider utilizes the authentication capabilities of IIS. After IIS completes its authentication, ASP.NET uses the authenticated identity's token to authorize access.
To enable a specified authentication provider for an ASP.NET application, you must create an entry in the application's configuration file as follows:
// web.config file