20 Design pattern and Software design interview questions for Programmers
1. Give an example where you prefer abstract class over interface ?
This is common but yet tricky design interview question. both interface and abstract class follow "writing code for interface than implementation" design principle which adds flexibility in code, quite important to tackle with changing requirement. here are some pointers which help you to answer this question:
1. In Java you can only extend one class but implement multiple interface. So if you extend a class you lost your chance of extending another class.
2. Interface are used to represent adjective or behavior e.g. Runnable, Clonable, Serializable etc, so if you use an abstract class to represent behavior your class can not be Runnable and Clonable at same time because you can not extend two class in Java but if you use interface your class can have multiple behavior at same time.
3. On time critical application prefer abstract class is slightly faster than interface.
4. If there is a genuine common behavior across the inheritance hierarchy which can be coded better at one place than abstract class is preferred choice. Some time interface and abstract class can work together also where defining function in interface and default functionality on abstract class.
To learn more about interface in Java check my post 10 things to know about Java interfaces
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