ECLIPSE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

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Dear readers, these Ec lipse Interview Q uestions have been desig ned specially to g et you acquainted with
the nature of questions you may encounter during your interview for the subject of Ec lipse. As per my
experience g ood interviewers hardly plan to ask any particular question during your interview, normally
questions start with some basic concept of the subject and later they continue based on further discussion and
what you answer:
Q : What is an IDE?
A: An IDE or Integ rated Development Environment is a software prog ram that is desig ned to help
prog rammers and developers build software.
Q : What are the basic thing s an IDE inc ludes?
A: Most IDEs include:
1. A source code editor
2. A compiler and/or an interpreter
3. Build automation tools
4. A debug g er
Q : What is ec lipse?
A: Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on building an extensible development
platform, runtimes and application frameworks for building , deploying and manag ing software across the entire
software lifecycle.
Eclipse is used in several different areas, e.g . as a development environment for Java or Android applications.
Q : Who g overns the Ec lipse projec ts?
A: T he Eclipse projects are g overned by the Eclipse Foundation. T he Eclipse Foundation is a non-profit,
member supported corporation that hosts the Eclipse Open Source projects.
Q : What is Ric h Client Platform?
A: T he minimal set of plug ins needed to build a rich client application is collectively known as the Rich Client
Platform. It means your application need only require two plug ins, org .ec lipse.ui and
org .ec lipse.c ore.runtime, and their prerequisites.
Q : What are the prerequisite for installing Ec lipse?
A: Eclipse requires an installed Java runtime. You may either install a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), or a
Java Development Kit (JDK), depending on what you want to do with Eclipse. If you intend to use Eclipse for
Java development, then you should install a JDK. If you aren't planning to use Eclipse for Java development and
want to save some disk space, install a JRE.
Q : What is a workspac e?
A: T he workspace is the physical location (file path) you are working in. Your projects, source files, imag es and
other artifacts can be stored and saved in your workspace. T he workspace also contains preferences setting s,
plug in specific meta data, log s etc
Q : What is an Ec lipse projec t?
A: An Eclipse project contains:
1. source

2. config uration and

3. binary files related to a certain task
Eclipse g roups the above into buildable and reusable units. An Eclipse project can have natures assig ned to it
which describe the purpose of this project. For example the Java nature defines a project as Java project.
Projects can have multiple natures combined to model different technical aspects.
Natures for a project are defined via the .projec t file in the project directory.
Q : What are visible parts or user interfac e c omponents of an Ec lipse Window?
A: T he major visible parts of an eclipse window are:
1. Views
2. Editors (all appear in one editor area)
3. Menu Bar
4. T oolbar
Q : What are views?
A: A view is typically used to work on a set of data, which mig ht be a hierarchical structure. If data is chang ed via
the view, the chang e is directly applied to the underlying data structure. A view sometimes allows us to open an
editor for a selected set of data.
E.g .:Packag e Explorer is a view, which allows you to browse the files of Eclipse projects.
Q : What are Editors?
A: Editors are typically used to modify a sing le data element, e.g . a file or a data object.
Q : What is differenc e between Views and Editors?
A: Editors are used to edit the project data and Views are used to view the project metadata. For example the
packag e explorer shows the java files in the project and the java editor is used to edit a java file.
Q : What is a Perspec tive?
A: An eclipse perspective is the name g iven to an initial collection and arrang ement of views and an editor area.
T he default perspective is called java.
Q : What is Refac toring and how is Refac toring in ec lipse done?
A: Refactoring is the process of restructuring the code without chang ing its behavior. For example renaming a
Java class or method is a refactoring activity.
Eclipse supports several refactoring activities, for example renaming or moving . E.g .:T o use the Rename
refactoring , you can rig ht-click on your class (in the editor or Packag e Explorer) and select Refactor ? Rename
to rename your class. Eclipse will make sure that all calls in your Workspace to your class or method are
renamed.
Q : Where do you set the memory heap size in Ec lipse?
A: Eclipse installation contains a file called eclipse.ini which allows you to config ure the memory parameters for
the Java virtual machine which runs the Eclipse IDE. For example the -Xmx parameter can be used to define how
larg e the Java heap size can g et. -Xms defines the initial heap size of the Java virtual machine
Q : Why should we c lose a projec t in Ec lipse?
A: An eclipse workspace can contain any number of projects. A project can be either in the open state or closed
state. Open projects:
Consume memory

T ake up build time especially when the Clean All Projects (Project > Clean all projects) with the Start a
build immediately option is used.
A closed project is visible in the Packag e Explorer view but its contents cannot be edited using the Eclipse user
interface.
Q : What are extensions and extension points in ec lipse?
A: Loose coupling in Eclipse is achieved partially throug h the mechanism of extensions and extension points. A
g eneral example for this would be: electrical outlets. T he outlet, or socket, is the extension point; the plug , or
lig ht bulb that connects to it, is the extension. As with electric outlets, extension points come in a wide variety of
shapes and sizes, and only the extensions that are desig ned for that particular extension point will fit.
When a plug in wants to allow other plug ins to extend or customize portions of its functionality, it will declare an
extension point. T he extension point declares typically a combination of XML markup and Java interfaces. T he
extensions must conform to this. plug ins that want to connect to that extension point must implement that contract
in their extension. Extension points are define in the plug in.xml
Q : What are ec lipse plug ins?
A: A software component in Eclipse is called a plug in. T he Eclipse IDE allows the developer to extend the IDE
functionality via plug ins. For example you can create new menu entries and associated actions via plug ins.
Q : When does a plug in g et started?
A: Each plug in can be viewed as having a declarative section and a code section. T he declarative part is
contained in the plug in. xml file. T his file is loaded into a reg istry when the platform starts up and so is always
available, reg ardless of whether a plug in has started. T he code section is activated only when their functionality
has been explicitly invoked by the user.
Q : Does Ec lipse save any report or log file?
A: Yes, whenever it encounters a problem that does not warrant launching a dialog , Eclipse saves a report in the
workspace log file. You can find the log file at :workspac e/.metadata/.log .
Q : What is "Cannot find a VM" start up problem in Ec lipse?
A: Eclipse requires a JVM to run and does not include one in the download. You may have a VM, but Eclipse
cannot find it. T o avoid possible conflicts, always specify the VM you are using with the -vm command-line
arg ument.
Q : What is "Disk full or out of memory" problem?
A: Eclipse, especially 2.1 and earlier, does not always g racefully report disk-full errors or out-of-memory
errors. Make sure that you have adequate disk space and that you are g iving the Java VM enoug h heap space.
Q : How to install new plug ins?
A: Best approach is to use the Eclipse Update Manag er. T he Update Manag er allows you to find new plug ins on
your machine, your network, or the Internet, compare new plug ins to your config uration, and install only those
that are compatible with your current config uration. T he Update Manag er is invoked by Help > Software
Updates.
Q : How to remove a plug in?
A: plug ins from Eclipse should never be removed. Instead they can be disabled by using the Eclipse Update
Manag er.
Run Help > About Eclipse >Installation Details, select the software you no long er want and click Uninstall.
Q : Where does System.out and System.err output log g ed?
A: Eclipse is simply a Java prog ram and when launched from a shell or command line, the output will g enerally g o
back to that shell. In Windows, the output will disappear completely if Eclipse is launched using the javaw.exe
VM. As output is lost, it's better to log error information by using the platform log g ing facility.

Q : What is autobuilding of J ava c ode in Ec lipse?

A: Eclipse provides autobuild facilities. If a resource chang es, the platform checks the project description file (
.project in your projects). When the file contains a reference to the Java builder, the builder g ets notified of the
chang e and will then compile the Java source file and it's dependents.
Q : What is a Q uic k Fix?
A: As you type characters into an eclipse editor it analyzes the document content for potential error and
warning s. T he java editor uses the java syntax to detect errors in the code. When it finds error it hig hlig hts
errors using red wavy lines under the offending code and a marker in the left editor marg in.
T he marker can be selected with the left mouse to activate the Quick Fix pop-up dialog . It provides a list of
possible corrections for the error.
Q : What is hot c ode replac e?
A: Hot code enables you to chang e code while debug g ing . It simply means that you may chang e the code in
debug mode and see its affect.
Q : Why does the Ec lipse c ompiler c reate a different serialVersionUID from javac ?
A: Serializable classes compiled with Eclipse are not compatible with the same classes compiled using javac.
When classes compiled in Eclipse are written to an object stream, you may not be able to read them back in a
prog ram that was compiled elsewhere. Many people blame this on the Eclipse compiler, assuming that it is
somehow not conforming properly to spec. In fact, this can be a problem between any two compilers or even two
versions of a compiler provided by the same vendor.
If you need object serialization, the only way to be safe is to explicitly define the serialVersionUID in your code:
class MyClass implements Serializable {
public static final long serialVersionUID = 1;
}

whenever your class chang es say it is incompatible with previously serialized versions, simply increment this
number.
Q : What is the differenc e between a perspec tive and a workbenc h pag e?
A: T he workbench pag e is the main body of a workbench window: between the toolbar and the status line, the
area that contains views and editors.T he workbench pag e can have one or more perspectives associated with it
that define the layout of the views and editors in the pag e.

What is Next ?
Further you can g o throug h your past assig nments you have done with the subject and make sure you are able to
speak confidently on them. If you are fresher then interviewer does not expect you will answer very complex
questions, rather you have to make your basics concepts very strong .
Second it really doesn't matter much if you could not answer few questions but it matters that whatever you
answered, you must have answered with confidence. So just feel confident during your interview. We at
tutorialspoint wish you best luck to have a g ood interviewer and all the very best for your future endeavor.
Cheers :-)