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Java: What deeper point about Primitive Types and Wrappers should a senior Java developer mention?

Difficulty:

Hard

Questions:

1

Time Limit:

2 minutes

Passing Score:

100%

Question

What deeper point about Primitive Types and Wrappers should a senior Java developer mention?

  1. Autoboxing can add allocation cost, hidden unboxing work, and NullPointerExceptions when a wrapper unexpectedly contains null.
  2. At senior level, the right answer is that Primitive Types and Wrappers exists mostly for historical syntax reasons.
  3. At senior level, the JVM removes the tradeoffs around Primitive Types and Wrappers, so design choices barely matter.
  4. At senior level, any approach to Primitive Types and Wrappers is equally correct if it compiles and passes a small test.

Hint

Look beyond syntax and explain the runtime, API, or design consequence.

Answer and rationale

Correct answer: A. Autoboxing can add allocation cost, hidden unboxing work, and NullPointerExceptions when a wrapper unexpectedly contains null.

Autoboxing can add allocation cost, hidden unboxing work, and NullPointerExceptions when a wrapper unexpectedly contains null. This is the kind of tradeoff-aware answer senior interviews usually expect.

Track: Java