Advanced Programming Concepts

1. What is a "semaphore" in concurrent programming?

• A. A type of variable
• B. A synchronization primitive controlling access to shared resources using a counter ✓
• C. A type of deadlock
• D. A thread scheduler

💡 A semaphore is a signaling mechanism with a counter controlling how many threads can access a resource simultaneously.

2. What is "currying" in functional programming?

• A. A type of recursion
• B. Adding spice to code
• C. Transforming a function with multiple arguments into a sequence of single-argument functions ✓
• D. A type of memoization

💡 Currying transforms f(a,b,c) into f(a)(b)(c) — each call returns a new function taking the next argument.

3. What is "software entropy"?

• A. A measure of code performance
• B. The tendency of software to become increasingly complex and harder to maintain over time ✓
• C. A type of memory leak
• D. A security vulnerability

💡 Software entropy describes how code becomes increasingly disordered and difficult to maintain over time without deliberate refactoring.

4. What is a "race condition" in concurrent programming?

• A. A performance optimization
• B. A type of sorting algorithm
• C. When two threads access shared data simultaneously and the result depends on timing ✓
• D. A deadlock situation

💡 A race condition occurs when two or more threads access shared data concurrently and the outcome depends on the order of execution.

5. What is "register allocation" in compiler design?

• A. A type of memory allocation
• B. Assigning program variables to CPU registers to minimize memory access ✓
• C. A type of garbage collection
• D. Allocating RAM to a program

💡 Register allocation assigns frequently-used variables to CPU registers (fast) rather than main memory (slow) during compilation.

6. What is "garbage collection" in programming?

• A. Deleting old files
• B. Manual memory management
• C. Automatic memory management that reclaims memory no longer in use ✓
• D. A type of optimization

💡 Garbage collection automatically frees memory occupied by objects that are no longer referenced by the program.

7. What is "tail recursion"?

• A. A recursion that never ends
• B. A recursive call that is the very last operation in a function enabling optimization ✓
• C. A type of loop
• D. A recursive call with multiple base cases

💡 Tail recursion places the recursive call as the last operation, allowing compilers to reuse the stack frame and prevent overflow.

8. What is "functional programming"?

• A. Programming with functions only
• B. A paradigm treating computation as evaluation of mathematical functions, avoiding mutable state ✓
• C. A type of OOP
• D. Procedural programming

💡 Functional programming treats functions as first-class citizens and avoids mutable state and side effects.

9. What is "just-in-time (JIT) compilation"?

• A. Compiling code before execution
• B. Interpreting code line by line
• C. Compiling code at runtime just before execution for better performance than interpretation ✓
• D. A type of garbage collection

💡 JIT compilation compiles frequently-executed code paths to native machine code at runtime, combining benefits of compilation and interpretation.

10. What is "lazy evaluation"?

• A. Slow code execution
• B. Evaluating expressions only when their values are actually needed ✓
• C. A type of caching
• D. Skipping function calls

💡 Lazy evaluation delays computation until the result is needed, improving performance by avoiding unnecessary calculations.

11. What is the difference between a process and a thread?

• A. No difference
• B. A thread is heavier than a process
• C. A process has its own memory space; threads share memory within a process ✓
• D. Processes share memory; threads do not

💡 A process is an independent program with its own memory. Threads are lightweight units within a process sharing the same memory.

12. What is "ABI" in computer science?

• A. Application Binary Interface — defines how binary code interacts at machine level ✓
• B. A type of API
• C. A programming language
• D. A database protocol

💡 ABI (Application Binary Interface) defines low-level conventions for binary code interaction: calling conventions, data layouts, system calls.

13. What is "lexical scoping" in programming languages?

• A. Scope determined at runtime
• B. Variables accessible only in their defined block
• C. Scope determined by where a function is defined in the source code ✓
• D. A type of closure

💡 Lexical (static) scoping means a variable's scope is determined by its position in the source code, not where it is called.

14. What is "monadic" programming?

• A. A type of OOP
• B. Programming with a single function
• C. A design pattern from functional programming for handling side effects and chaining operations ✓
• D. A type of recursion

💡 Monads are a design pattern in functional programming for composing operations that involve side effects (IO, state, exceptions) in a clean way.

15. What is "type inference" in programming languages?

• A. Manual type declaration
• B. The compiler automatically deducing the type of an expression ✓
• C. A runtime error
• D. A type of casting

💡 Type inference allows a compiler to automatically determine the type of a variable without explicit annotation (e.g., var in Kotlin).

16. What is "polymorphic dispatch" in OOP?

• A. Calling a static method
• B. The runtime selection of which method implementation to call based on the object's actual type ✓
• C. Calling multiple methods at once
• D. A type of method overloading

💡 Polymorphic dispatch selects the appropriate method implementation at runtime based on the actual (dynamic) type of the object.

17. What is "continuation-passing style" (CPS)?

• A. A type of recursion
• B. A programming style where control is passed as explicit continuations (callbacks) ✓
• C. A type of lazy evaluation
• D. A functional design pattern

💡 CPS passes the rest of the computation as a function (continuation). Asynchronous callback-based code follows CPS principles.

18. What is a "pure function" in functional programming?

• A. A function with no parameters
• B. A function that always returns the same output for the same input with no side effects ✓
• C. A function that uses global variables
• D. A recursive function

💡 A pure function always produces the same output given the same input and has no observable side effects.

19. What does "immutability" mean in programming?

• A. Variables that change frequently
• B. Objects whose state cannot be changed after creation ✓
• C. A type of constant
• D. A read-only database

💡 Immutable objects cannot be modified after creation. A new object must be created to represent any change.

20. What is a "deadlock" in concurrent programming?

• A. A performance bottleneck
• B. A situation where two or more threads are blocked forever waiting for each other ✓
• C. A type of race condition
• D. An infinite loop

💡 Deadlock occurs when two or more threads each hold a resource the other needs, causing all to wait forever.