Java SERVLET Interview Questions-Part2

Question: What is URL Encoding and URL Decoding ?
Answer: URL encoding is the method of replacing all the spaces and other extra characters into their corresponding Hex Characters and Decoding is the reverse process converting all Hex Characters back their normal form.
For Example consider this URL, /ServletsDirectory/Hello'servlet/
When Encoded using URLEncoder.encode("/ServletsDirectory/Hello'servlet/") the output is
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.javacommerce.com%2FServlets+Directory%2FHello%27servlet%2FThis can be decoded back using
URLDecoder.decode("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.javacommerce.com%2FServlets+Directory%2FHello%27servlet%2F")
Question: Do objects stored in a HTTP Session need to be serializable? Or can it store any object?
Answer: Yes, the objects need to be serializable, but only if your servlet container supports persistent sessions. Most lightweight servlet engines (like Tomcat) do not support this. However, many EJB-enabled servlet engines do. Even if your engine does support persistent sessions, it is usually possible to disable this feature.
Question: What is the difference between session and cookie?
Answer: The difference between session and a cookie is two-fold.
1) session should work regardless of the settings on the client browser. even if users decide to forbid the cookie (through browser settings) session still works. there is no way to disable sessions from the client browser.
2) session and cookies differ in type and amount of information they are capable of storing.
Javax.servlet.http.Cookie class has a setValue() method that accepts Strings. javax.servlet.http.HttpSession has a setAttribute() method which takes a String to denote the name and java.lang.Object which means that HttpSession is capable of storing any java object. Cookie can only store String objects.
Question: What is the difference between ServletContext and ServletConfig?
Answer: Both are interfaces.
The servlet engine implements the ServletConfig interface in order to pass configuration information to a servlet. The server passes an object that implements the ServletConfig interface to the servlet's init() method.
The ServletContext interface provides information to servlets regarding the environment in which they are running. It also provides standard way for servlets to write events to a log file.
Question: What are the differences between GET and POST service methods?
Answer: A GET request is a request to get a resource from the server. Choosing GET as the "method" will append all of the data to the URL and it will show up in the URL bar of your browser. The amount of information you can send back using a GET is restricted as URLs can only be 1024 characters. A POST request is a request to post (to send) form data to a resource on the server. A POST on the other hand will (typically) send the information through a socket back to the webserver and it won't show up in the URL bar. You can send much more information to the server this way - and it's not restricted to textual data either. It is possible to send files and even binary data such as serialized Java objects!