Groovy Interview Questions and Answers
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What is Groovy?
- Answer: Groovy is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It's designed to be a powerful and flexible language for both scripting and general-purpose programming, leveraging the strengths of Java while providing a more concise and expressive syntax.
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What are the key features of Groovy?
- Answer: Key features include dynamic typing, closures, metaprogramming, operator overloading, built-in support for XML and JSON, and seamless Java interoperability.
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How does Groovy compare to Java?
- Answer: Groovy runs on the JVM, allowing interoperability with Java code. However, Groovy offers a more concise syntax, dynamic typing, and features like closures absent in Java, making development faster and often more expressive.
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Explain Groovy's dynamic typing.
- Answer: Unlike Java's static typing, Groovy's dynamic typing allows you to declare variables without specifying their type explicitly. The type is determined at runtime. This provides flexibility but requires careful attention to avoid runtime type errors.
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What are Groovy closures?
- Answer: Closures are anonymous, first-class functions that can be passed as arguments to other functions, returned from functions, and assigned to variables. They are a powerful feature that enables functional programming styles.
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Explain Groovy's metaprogramming capabilities.
- Answer: Groovy allows you to modify the behavior of classes and objects at runtime. This is achieved using features like `ExpandoMetaClass` which lets you add methods and properties to existing classes dynamically.
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How does Groovy handle null values?
- Answer: Groovy has built-in support for safe navigation (`?.`) to avoid `NullPointerExceptions`. The `?.` operator allows you to chain method calls, and if any part of the chain is null, the entire expression evaluates to null without throwing an exception.
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What are Groovy's built-in data structures?
- Answer: Groovy provides enhanced versions of common Java data structures like lists (`List`), maps (`Map`), and sets (`Set`). These offer more convenient syntax and features, often making code more readable.
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Explain Groovy's support for properties.
- Answer: Groovy simplifies property access. You don't need explicit getter and setter methods; you can directly access properties using dot notation (e.g., `myObject.name`). Groovy automatically generates getter and setter methods behind the scenes.
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How does Groovy interact with Java libraries?
- Answer: Groovy seamlessly interoperates with Java libraries. You can directly use Java classes, methods, and interfaces within your Groovy code without any special adapters or wrappers.
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What is the purpose of the `groovyc` compiler?
- Answer: The `groovyc` compiler compiles Groovy source code into Java bytecode, allowing it to run on the JVM.
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Explain the difference between `println()` and `print()` in Groovy.
- Answer: `println()` adds a newline character after printing, while `print()` does not.
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How can you create a simple Groovy script?
- Answer: Create a file with a `.groovy` extension and write Groovy code within it. You can then execute it using the Groovy interpreter or compile it using `groovyc`.
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What are the different ways to define a method in Groovy?
- Answer: Methods can be defined using the `def` keyword, or implicitly by simply declaring a method name followed by parentheses and a body.
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