Competitive Exams : Computer Awareness - Programming (Set 3)

Question 1

Consider the execution of the following ternary logic snippet:

int x = 5, y = 12;
int z = (x > y) ? x : (y % x);

What will be the final value stored in the variable z?

Accepted Answer

B) 2

Answer

A) 5

Answer

C) 12

Answer

D) 0

Answer

E) Error

Question 2

Which stage of the compilation process is responsible for removing comments, expanding macros, and including header files before actual source code compilation begins?

Accepted Answer

C) Preprocessor

Answer

A) Assembler

Answer

B) Linker

Answer

D) Code Generator

Answer

E) Loader

Question 3

When passing an argument to a function using "Call by Reference", what is directly passed to the parameter inside the function?

Accepted Answer

B) The memory address of the actual variable

Answer

A) A copy of the actual variable's value

Answer

C) A temporary duplicate object

Answer

D) The return value of the caller function

Answer

E) The system process identifier

Question 4

In recursive function calls, what run-time error condition occurs when a function repeatedly invokes itself without reaching a valid base case?

Accepted Answer

B) Stack Overflow Error

Answer

A) Memory Leak Error

Answer

C) Syntax Parsing Error

Answer

D) Data Type Mismatch

Answer

E) Null Pointer Exception

Question 5

In structured programming, what is the key functional distinction between the break and continue control flow statements inside loops?

Accepted Answer

C) break terminates the nearest enclosing loop completely, while continue skips the rest of the current iteration and advances to the next step

Answer

A) break restarts the loop, while continue terminates the program

Answer

B) break skips the current iteration, while continue exits the loop

Answer

D) Both statements perform identical actions in modern programming languages

Answer

E) continue exits all nested loops simultaneously

Question 6

Standard Algorithm Flowchart Symbols:
1. Oval: Start / End
2. Rectangle: Processing Action
3. Parallelogram: Input / Output
4. Shape X: Branching / Conditional Evaluation

Which geometric shape corresponds to Shape X in standard flowchart notation?

Accepted Answer

D) Diamond

Answer

A) Rectangle

Answer

B) Oval

Answer

C) Parallelogram

Answer

E) Circle

Question 7

Evaluate the exact numerical result of the following arithmetic expression using standard precedence rules: $15 + 6 imes 4 / 2 - 8 \pmod 3$

Accepted Answer

D) 25

Answer

A) 24

Answer

B) 26

Answer

C) 20

Answer

E) 18

Question 8

Which object-oriented programming principle hides unnecessary background implementation details and exposes only essential interfaces to the user?

Accepted Answer

C) Abstraction

Answer

A) Inheritance

Answer

B) Polymorphism

Answer

D) Compilation

Answer

E) Dynamic Binding

Question 9

Consider the Python list: nums = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60]

What is the output generated by the slicing expression nums[1:5:2]?

Accepted Answer

A) [20, 40]

Answer

B) [10, 30, 50]

Answer

C) [20, 30, 40]

Answer

D) [20, 40, 60]

Answer

E) [30, 50]

Question 10

Consider the Boolean logic expression: !(A && B) || (C && !A) where boolean variables are assigned: A = True, B = False, and C = True.

What is the evaluated boolean output of the entire expression?

Accepted Answer

A) True

Answer

B) False

Answer

C) Undefined

Answer

D) Null

Answer

E) Syntax Error

Question 11

What primary role does the Linker software tool perform during the program generation phase?

Accepted Answer

B) Combines separate object code modules and compiled library dependencies into a single executable binary file

Answer

A) Translates high-level source code line-by-line during runtime

Answer

C) Allocates dynamic memory blocks on the system heap

Answer

D) Validates code for syntactic grammar compliance

Answer

E) Converts machine code back into readable pseudocode

Question 12

What programming defect occurs when dynamically allocated heap memory is no longer referenced by a running application but remains unreleased?

Accepted Answer

C) Memory Leak

Answer

A) Stack Overflow

Answer

B) Buffer Overflow

Answer

D) Deadlock

Answer

E) Segmentation Fault

Question 13

Which basic abstract data structure follows a Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) operational order and is used internally to manage active subroutine calls?

Accepted Answer

D) Call Stack

Answer

A) Queue

Answer

B) Linked List

Answer

C) Array

Answer

E) Binary Tree

Question 14

What is the asymptotic time complexity of retrieving an element by its numerical index in a continuous, zero-indexed array of size $N$?

Accepted Answer

A) $\mathcal{O}(1)$

Answer

B) $\mathcal{O}(N)$

Answer

C) $\mathcal{O}(\log N)$

Answer

D) $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$

Answer

E) $\mathcal{O}(N \log N)$

Question 15

int sum = 0;
for(int i = 1; i <= 4; i++) {
for(int j = 1; j <= i; j++) {
sum += j;
}
}

What is the exact final value of variable sum after executing the nested loop snippet above?

Accepted Answer

B) 20

Answer

A) 10

Answer

C) 14

Answer

D) 15

Answer

E) 30

Question 16

Which object-oriented programming feature permits multiple methods within the same class to share the same identifier name but require different parameter signatures?

Accepted Answer

B) Method Overloading

Answer

A) Method Overriding

Answer

C) Data Encapsulation

Answer

D) Multiple Inheritance

Answer

E) Memory Abstraction

Question 17

Which variable scope and lifetime modifier retains a variable's persistent value across multiple function calls, while keeping its access scope restricted to its defining function block?

Accepted Answer

C) Static local variable

Answer

A) Global variable

Answer

B) Dynamic variable

Answer

D) Volatile variable

Answer

E) Register variable

Question 18

In software execution and translation terminology, how is a "Syntax Error" defined?

Accepted Answer

B) A violation of the language's grammatical rules detected during compilation or parsing

Answer

A) A runtime exception caused by mathematical division by zero

Answer

C) A logical design flaw that produces incorrect program results without crashing

Answer

D) An operating system failure caused by physical RAM exhaustion

Answer

E) An infinite execution condition inside a conditional control block

Question 19

Which paradigm organizes software architecture around software components that bundle both state data and procedural operations?

Accepted Answer

C) Object-Oriented Programming

Answer

A) Procedural Programming

Answer

B) Functional Programming

Answer

D) Assembly Language Programming

Answer

E) Declarative Programming

Question 20

What is the fundamental functional distinction between a Compiler and an Interpreter?

Accepted Answer

B) Compilers translate entire source code into machine code prior to execution, whereas interpreters translate and execute code line-by-line during runtime

Answer

A) Compilers check code syntax, whereas interpreters check logic errors

Answer

C) Interpreters generate standalone binary files, whereas compilers execute code directly in system memory

Answer

D) Compilers execute code faster only when run inside a virtual machine

Answer

E) Interpreters compile source code into assembly prior to execution