Advanced Technical Interview Questions & Answers
C++ Core + Intermediate to Advanced
Q: What is the difference between shallow copy and deep copy?
A: Shallow copy copies references to objects; deep copy copies entire objects recursively.
Q: What is the Rule of Three / Five in C++?
A: If a class defines one of destructor, copy constructor, or copy assignment, it should define all three (or five
including move versions).
Q: What are smart pointers? Difference between shared_ptr, unique_ptr, and weak_ptr?
A: Smart pointers manage memory automatically.
- shared_ptr: shared ownership.
- unique_ptr: sole ownership.
- weak_ptr: non-owning reference.
Q: What are function templates and class templates?
A: Templates allow generic programming. Function/class works with any data type.
Q: What is the difference between static and dynamic polymorphism?
A: Static: resolved at compile time (e.g., overloading). Dynamic: resolved at runtime (e.g., virtual functions).
Q: How does memory allocation happen in C++ (stack vs heap)?
A: Stack: automatic memory. Heap: dynamic memory via new/malloc.
Q: What are friend functions and friend classes?
A: They can access private/protected members of the class they are friend to.
Q: Explain RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization).
A: A resource is acquired in a constructor and released in the destructor, ensuring no leaks.
Q: How does C++ handle multiple inheritance ambiguity?
A: Using virtual inheritance to prevent duplicate base class instances.
Q: How is std::vector implemented internally?
A: It uses a dynamic array that resizes when needed (typically doubling in size).
STL (Standard Template Library)
Q: Difference between map and unordered_map?
A: map is ordered (uses Red-Black tree), unordered_map is faster but unordered (uses hash table).
Q: How is a set different from a multiset?
A: Set stores unique elements, multiset allows duplicates.
Q: What is the underlying data structure of a priority_queue?
A: Typically a max heap implemented using a vector.
Q: Explain iterators and how they work in STL.
A: Iterators act like pointers to traverse containers.
Q: Write a program to sort a vector of pairs using sort() and a custom comparator.
A: sort(v.begin(), v.end(), [](auto &a, auto &b) { return a.second < b.second; });
JavaScript Core + React
Q: Explain closures with an example.
A: A closure is a function that retains access to its lexical scope. Example:
function outer() {
let count = 0;
return function() { count++; return count; }
Q: What is hoisting in JavaScript?
A: Declarations are moved to the top of their scope at compile time.
Q: Difference between == and ===?
A: == allows type coercion; === checks both type and value.
Q: What is the event loop?
A: A mechanism that handles asynchronous callbacks using a queue and call stack.
Q: Difference between var, let, and const?
A: var: function scope; let/const: block scope. const cannot be reassigned.
Q: Arrow functions vs regular functions?
A: Arrow functions don't have their own `this` or `arguments`.
Q: Difference between call(), apply(), and bind()?
A: call: invokes with arguments. apply: with array. bind: returns a bound function.
Q: Event delegation in DOM?
A: Attaching event listener to parent and catching child events via bubbling.
Q: JavaScript data types?
A: Primitive: string, number, boolean, null, undefined, symbol, bigint. Reference: object, array.
Q: Prototypal inheritance?
A: Objects inherit from other objects via prototype chain.
