Facebook Java Developer Mock Interview

Practice 20 Facebook Java Developer interview questions covering system design, scalability, and backend engineering.

Question 13 of 20

Can you tell me what a Compare and Swap algorithm is and how you use it when coding in Java?

How to Answer
Example Answer
Community Answers

William Swansen has worked in the employment assistance realm since 2007. He is an author, job search strategist, and career advisor who helps individuals worldwide and in various professions to find their ideal careers.

This is a more complex technical question, which asks you to define a term and then discuss how it is used when creating a Java program. Regardless of whether a question is simple or complex, it would be best to keep your answer brief and to the point. The Facebook interviewer will either ask for more information or move on to the next topic.

William Swansen

"Compare and Swap is a type of instruction which helps to synchronize threads in a multi-threading environment. The way it works is to examine the content of a memory location and, if it matches another location, it modifies the value of the content and creates a new value. This prevents the content from being used by another thread and a write operation failing."

Write Your Answer

0 - Character Count

Unlock All 20 Facebook Questions

Prepare for Facebook's rigorous technical interviews with expert-vetted Java questions.

Get Started

Previous Question Next Question