Spring Framework Quiz (Advanced) - All Questions

This advanced Spring Framework quiz is designed for experienced developers preparing for senior-level interviews and real-world system design challenges. It covers deep Spring internals, edge cases, performance considerations, and production-grade scenarios.

Question 1: What happens internally when a Spring bean is marked as both @Lazy and singleton?

Bean is never created
Bean is created at context startup
Bean is created on first request
Bean is created per request

Explanation: Lazy singleton beans are instantiated only when first requested.

Question 2: Which Spring component is responsible for resolving method arguments in @Controller methods?

HandlerMapping
HandlerAdapter
ArgumentResolver
ViewResolver

Explanation: HandlerMethodArgumentResolver resolves controller method arguments.

Question 3: What is the main drawback of field injection?

Slower performance
Harder to test and maintain
Memory leaks
Bean creation failure

Explanation: Field injection makes testing and immutability difficult.

Question 4: Which transaction propagation creates a new transaction and suspends the existing one?

REQUIRED
MANDATORY
REQUIRES_NEW
SUPPORTS

Explanation: REQUIRES_NEW always starts a new transaction.

Question 5: Why does self-invocation break @Transactional behavior?

Transaction manager fails
Proxy is bypassed
Database locks occur
Spring context reloads

Explanation: Self-invocation bypasses Spring proxies.

Question 6: Which proxy mechanism is used by default for @Transactional?

CGLIB only
JDK dynamic proxies only
ByteBuddy
JDK or CGLIB based on class

Explanation: Spring chooses JDK or CGLIB based on implementation.

Question 7: What is the purpose of SmartInitializingSingleton?

Lazy loading
Post-processing after all singletons are created
Early bean creation
Destroy callbacks

Explanation: It runs logic after all singleton beans are initialized.

Question 8: Which annotation ensures method-level security before execution?

@Secured
@PostAuthorize
@PreAuthorize
@EnableSecurity

Explanation: @PreAuthorize checks authorization before method execution.

Question 9: What is the role of BeanPostProcessor?

Modify bean definitions
Intercept HTTP requests
Customize bean initialization
Handle transactions

Explanation: BeanPostProcessor customizes beans before and after initialization.

Question 10: Which Spring component loads BeanDefinition metadata?

BeanFactory
BeanDefinitionReader
ApplicationContext
Environment

Explanation: BeanDefinitionReader reads and registers bean definitions.

Question 11: What causes circular dependency issues in Spring?

Constructor injection
Setter injection
Prototype scope
Lazy loading

Explanation: Constructor injection cannot resolve circular dependencies.

Question 12: Which cache abstraction annotation evicts cache entries?

@CachePut
@CacheRemove
@CacheEvict
@CacheClear

Explanation: @CacheEvict removes cache entries.

Question 13: What is the default behavior of @Cacheable when key is not specified?

No caching
Uses method parameters as key
Uses method name
Uses random key

Explanation: Method parameters are used as cache keys.

Question 14: Which class manages filter chain execution in Spring Security?

SecurityContextHolder
AuthenticationManager
FilterChainProxy
AccessDecisionManager

Explanation: FilterChainProxy manages Spring Security filters.

Question 15: What is the default password encoder in Spring Security 5+?

BCryptPasswordEncoder
NoOpPasswordEncoder
DelegatingPasswordEncoder
SHA256Encoder

Explanation: DelegatingPasswordEncoder is default since Spring Security 5.

Question 16: Why is @Transactional not effective on private methods?

Visibility issue
Proxy cannot intercept private methods
Annotation ignored
Compilation error

Explanation: Spring proxies cannot intercept private methods.

Question 17: Which WebClient feature enables non-blocking calls?

Mono and Flux
RestTemplate
ThreadPoolExecutor
Callable

Explanation: Mono and Flux provide reactive, non-blocking streams.

Question 18: What is the main benefit of WebFlux over Spring MVC?

Better UI
Lower memory usage
Non-blocking I/O
Simpler annotations

Explanation: WebFlux supports non-blocking reactive programming.

Question 19: Which component propagates security context across threads?

SecurityContextHolder
ThreadLocal
DelegatingSecurityContextExecutor
AuthenticationProvider

Explanation: DelegatingSecurityContextExecutor propagates security context.

Question 20: What does @ConditionalOnMissingBean do?

Always create bean
Create bean if none exists
Disable bean
Replace existing bean

Explanation: It creates a bean only if none is present.

Question 21: Which actuator endpoint can expose thread dumps?

/metrics
/env
/threaddump
/beans

Explanation: /threaddump shows JVM thread information.

Question 22: What is the purpose of @ImportSelector?

Import properties
Conditionally select configuration classes
Scan components
Enable profiles

Explanation: @ImportSelector selects configurations dynamically.

Question 23: Which annotation prevents transaction rollback?

noRollbackFor
rollbackFor
@NoRollback
@IgnoreRollback

Explanation: noRollbackFor prevents rollback for specific exceptions.

Question 24: What is the primary risk of using Open Session in View?

Data inconsistency
N+1 queries
Transaction failure
Deadlocks

Explanation: OSIV can hide N+1 query problems.

Question 25: Which Spring feature supports method-level caching?

Spring AOP
Spring Cache Abstraction
Spring Data
Spring Context

Explanation: Spring Cache provides method-level caching.

Question 26: What happens if @Async method returns void?

Exception thrown
Runs synchronously
Runs asynchronously without feedback
Method ignored

Explanation: Void async methods run without result tracking.

Question 27: Which executor is used by default for @Async?

SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor
ForkJoinPool
ThreadPoolTaskExecutor
CachedThreadPool

Explanation: SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor is the default.

Question 28: Which Spring component resolves @Value placeholders?

PropertySource
PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer
Environment
ResourceLoader

Explanation: PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer resolves placeholders.

Question 29: What is the impact of using prototype beans inside singleton beans?

Prototype reused
Memory leak
Only one instance injected
Scope ignored

Explanation: Prototype is injected once into singleton.

Question 30: Which annotation helps inject prototype beans dynamically?

@Lookup
@Autowired
@Inject
@Lazy

Explanation: @Lookup retrieves prototype beans dynamically.

Question 31: Which class bootstraps SpringApplication?

ApplicationContext
SpringApplication
BootstrapContext
ContextLoader

Explanation: SpringApplication bootstraps Spring Boot apps.

Question 32: Why should RestTemplate be avoided in new applications?

Deprecated
Blocking I/O
Not configurable
Limited HTTP methods

Explanation: RestTemplate is blocking; WebClient is preferred.

Question 33: Which Spring feature handles graceful shutdown?

Actuator
Lifecycle
SmartLifecycle
ShutdownHook

Explanation: SmartLifecycle supports graceful shutdown.

Question 34: What is the default order of BeanPostProcessors?

Random
Alphabetical
PriorityOrdered → Ordered → Others
Registration order

Explanation: Spring follows PriorityOrdered, Ordered, then others.

Question 35: Which annotation enables reactive repositories?

@EnableReactive
@EnableR2dbcRepositories
@EnableWebFlux
@EnableRepositories

Explanation: It enables R2DBC reactive repositories.

Question 36: Which failure occurs if @EnableAspectJAutoProxy is missing?

AOP disabled
Application fails
Beans not created
Transactions ignored

Explanation: Without it, AOP proxies are not created.

Question 37: Which Spring component publishes application events?

EventPublisher
ApplicationContext
EventDispatcher
BeanFactory

Explanation: ApplicationContext publishes events.

Question 38: What is the purpose of @EventListener?

Create events
Handle application events
Schedule tasks
Log events

Explanation: @EventListener listens to application events.

Question 39: Which transaction isolation level prevents dirty reads?

READ_UNCOMMITTED
READ_COMMITTED
REPEATABLE_READ
SERIALIZABLE

Explanation: READ_COMMITTED prevents dirty reads.

Question 40: Which annotation enables JPA auditing?

@EnableJpaAuditing
@EnableAuditing
@Audit
@JpaAudit

Explanation: It enables auditing features.

Question 41: Which component handles conversion between types?

Formatter
Converter
PropertyEditor
All of the above

Explanation: Spring supports all listed conversion mechanisms.

Question 42: Which failure happens if multiple @Primary beans exist?

Compilation error
Startup failure
Random injection
Ignored beans

Explanation: Multiple primary beans cause startup failure.

Question 43: Which annotation disables default security auto-configuration?

@ExcludeSecurity
exclude in @SpringBootApplication
@DisableSecurity
@NoSecurity

Explanation: Security auto-config can be excluded explicitly.

Question 44: Which component manages HTTP session concurrency?

SessionRegistry
SecurityContext
AuthenticationManager
SessionFilter

Explanation: SessionRegistry manages concurrent sessions.

Question 45: What is the biggest risk of enabling actuator endpoints publicly?

Performance issues
Security exposure
Memory leaks
Thread blocking

Explanation: Exposed endpoints can leak sensitive data.

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Spring Framework Quiz (Advanced)

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