FC0-U61 Software Development Concepts — 20 Questions

Question 1

A junior developer is tasked with fixing a bug where a variable is unexpectedly undefined. The developer suspects the variable is not within scope. Which programming concept describes where a variable can be accessed?

Accepted Answer

Scope. Scope is the programming concept that defines the region of code where a variable is accessible. If a variable is unexpectedly undefined, it is often because it was declared outside the current block or function, making it out of scope. In JavaScript, for example, variables declared with `let` or `const` inside a block are not accessible outside that block.

Answer

Loop

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Data type

Answer

Function

Question 2

A development team is using version control for their project. They need to isolate a new feature from the main codebase until it is complete. Which version control operation should they perform?

Accepted Answer

Branch. Branching creates a separate line of development within a version control system (e.g., Git, Mercurial), allowing the team to work on a new feature in isolation without affecting the main codebase (often called 'main' or 'master'). Once the feature is complete and tested, the branch can be merged back. This directly addresses the requirement to isolate work until it is finished.

Answer

Merge

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Commit

Answer

Push

Question 3

A software application is experiencing performance degradation. The team suspects a memory leak. Which development practice should be used to identify the source of the leak?

Accepted Answer

Profiling. Profiling is the correct practice because it involves monitoring the application's runtime behavior, including memory allocation and garbage collection. A memory profiler can track object creation and retention, pinpointing which objects are not being released and causing the leak. This is the standard approach for diagnosing memory leaks in languages like Java or C#.

Answer

Unit testing

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Debugging

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Code review

Question 4

A developer needs to store a list of employee names. Which data structure is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Array. An array is the most appropriate data structure for storing a list of employee names because it allows multiple values (strings) to be stored in a single, ordered collection. Unlike a single string, which holds only one value, an array can hold many strings and provides indexed access to each element, making it ideal for lists of items.

Answer

String

Answer

Boolean

Answer

Integer

Question 5

A web application is not responding to user input. The developer checks the code and finds an infinite loop. Which change will fix the infinite loop?

Accepted Answer

Add a counter variable that increments and check it in the condition. Option C is correct because an infinite loop occurs when the loop's termination condition is never met. By adding a counter variable that increments with each iteration and checking it in the condition, the loop will eventually exit when the counter reaches a specified limit, thus breaking the infinite loop.

Answer

Remove the loop body

Answer

Add a break statement

Answer

Change from a for loop to a while loop

Question 6

A team is developing a new feature using an Agile methodology. The product owner wants to see a working version of the feature after each iteration. Which practice best supports this request?

Accepted Answer

Continuous integration. Continuous integration (CI) is the practice of automatically merging and testing code changes frequently, often multiple times per day. This ensures that after each iteration (sprint), the team has a working, integrated version of the feature, directly supporting the product owner's request to see a functional build. CI relies on automated builds and tests to catch integration issues early, enabling rapid feedback and delivery.

Answer

Code review

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Refactoring

Answer

Writing comprehensive documentation

Question 7

A developer needs to repeat a set of instructions exactly 10 times. Which programming construct should be used?

Accepted Answer

For loop. A for loop is the correct construct because it is specifically designed to execute a block of code a predetermined number of times, such as exactly 10 iterations. The loop's initialization, condition, and increment/decrement components allow precise control over the repetition count, making it ideal for this requirement.

Answer

Variable

Answer

Function

Answer

If-else statement

Question 8

Which TWO of the following are examples of high-level programming languages? (Select TWO).

Accepted Answer

Python. Python and Java are both high-level programming languages because they provide strong abstraction from the computer's hardware, using human-readable syntax and automatic memory management. Python is interpreted and dynamically typed, while Java is compiled to bytecode and statically typed, but both allow developers to write code without managing registers or memory addresses directly.

Answer

Machine code

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Assembly

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Binary

Question 9

Which THREE of the following are characteristics of object-oriented programming (OOP)? (Select THREE).

Accepted Answer

Polymorphism. Polymorphism is a core OOP concept that allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass, with method calls resolved at runtime based on the actual object type. This enables one interface to be used for a general class of actions, with specific behavior determined by the specific object instance.

Answer

Top-down design

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Sequential execution

Question 10

Refer to the exhibit. A developer wrote this BASIC program. What will happen if the user presses Enter without typing a name?

Accepted Answer

The program will prompt for input again.. In BASIC, the INPUT statement reads a string from the user. If the user presses Enter without typing a name, the variable receives an empty string (""). The program then prints "Hello, " followed by that empty string, resulting in "Hello, " with no name. Option C is incorrect because the program does not loop or re-prompt; it simply continues with the empty string.

Answer

The program will print "Hello, " with no name.

Answer

The program will display an error message.

Answer

The program will end with no output.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. A cloud engineer is reviewing a JSON configuration for an auto-scaling group. Currently, there are 3 instances and the CPU usage is 85%. What will happen next?

Accepted Answer

An instance will be added.. Option D is correct because the auto-scaling group's configuration specifies a scale-out policy triggered when the average CPU utilization exceeds 80% for a sustained period. With CPU usage at 85% and only 3 instances running, the condition is met, so the auto-scaling group will launch an additional instance to distribute the load and reduce CPU usage.

Answer

No action will be taken.

Answer

An instance will be removed.

Answer

The configuration will be flagged as invalid.

Question 12

You are a junior developer at a small company that uses a monolithic web application written in Python. The application runs on a single server and uses a MySQL database. Recently, the application has become slow during peak hours. The operations team reports high CPU usage on the server. You suspect that the database queries are not optimized. You propose to refactor the application to use a caching layer. However, your manager is concerned about adding complexity and suggests that you first optimize the most frequently executed queries. You review the code and find that the most frequent query selects all columns from a large table without a WHERE clause. The table has over 1 million rows. Which course of action should you take?

Accepted Answer

Modify the query to include a WHERE clause that filters on an indexed column.. Option D is correct because the query selects all columns from a large table without a WHERE clause, which forces a full table scan. Adding a WHERE clause that filters on an indexed column reduces the number of rows scanned, dramatically improving performance without introducing the complexity of a caching layer. This directly addresses the high CPU usage caused by inefficient query execution.

Answer

Implement a caching layer using Redis.

Answer

Upgrade the server to have more CPU and RAM.

Answer

Add an index on all columns used in the query.

Question 13

Which TWO of the following are common characteristics of object-oriented programming languages?

Accepted Answer

Inheritance. Inheritance is a core characteristic of object-oriented programming (OOP) that allows a class to derive properties and behaviors from a parent class, promoting code reuse and hierarchical relationships. This is a defining feature of OOP languages like Java, C++, and Python, distinguishing them from procedural or functional paradigms.

Answer

Procedural programming

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Polymorphism

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Functional programming

Question 14

A developer is troubleshooting an issue where a user can list the objects in an S3 bucket but cannot download any of them. Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The Deny statement on s3:GetObject explicitly denies object retrieval.. The exhibit shows an explicit Deny statement for s3:GetObject, which overrides any Allow statements due to AWS IAM policy evaluation logic. Even if the user has s3:ListBucket permission to list objects, the Deny on s3:GetObject prevents downloading any objects. This is the most likely cause because AWS Deny statements are absolute and cannot be overridden by Allow statements.

Answer

The user lacks permissions to list the bucket.

Answer

The Allow statement on s3:ListBucket also allows downloads.

Answer

The policy is malformed and causes an error.

Question 15

A small e-commerce company uses a monolithic web application hosted on a single server. During peak shopping hours, the server becomes overloaded, causing slow page loads and occasional timeouts. The development team wants to improve scalability and maintainability. They are considering breaking the application into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled separately. Which approach should the team adopt?

Accepted Answer

Migrate to a microservices architecture.. Microservices architecture involves decomposing an application into small, independent services. Option A is correct. Option B is incorrect because a service-oriented architecture (SOA) is similar but often uses an enterprise service bus, which may be less granular. Option C is incorrect because containerization is a deployment method, not an architecture pattern. Option D is incorrect because serverless is a compute model, not an architecture pattern for breaking up a monolith.

Answer

Move the application to a serverless computing platform.

Answer

Implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) with an enterprise service bus.

Answer

Containerize the existing monolithic application.

Question 16

Which TWO of the following are common characteristics of compiled programming languages?

Accepted Answer

The resulting executable is platform-specific.. Option B is correct because compiled languages produce machine code that is specific to the target operating system and processor architecture. This platform-specific executable cannot run on a different OS or CPU without recompilation, which is a defining characteristic of compiled languages like C or C++.

Answer

The code is executed line-by-line by an interpreter.

Answer

Variables do not need to be declared before use.

Answer

The source code is compiled every time the program runs.

Question 17

A developer runs a SQL query against a database and receives the error shown. Which of the following actions should the developer take first to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Check the table definition to confirm column names.. The error indicates that the column 'user_id' does not exist in the 'users' table. The most logical first step is to check the table definition to confirm the actual column names, as the developer may have misspelled the column name or used the wrong case. This avoids unnecessary destructive actions like dropping the table or making incorrect assumptions about case sensitivity.

Answer

Drop and recreate the 'users' table with the correct column.

Answer

Change 'user_id' to 'UserID' to match case-sensitive settings.

Answer

Add quotes around the table name.

Question 18

A small business uses a single Linux server to host a custom inventory management application written in Python. The application reads from a CSV file on the server to display current stock levels. Recently, users have reported that the inventory numbers are incorrect and sometimes the application crashes with a 'Permission denied' error when trying to save updates. The server has two user accounts: 'admin' (with sudo privileges) and 'app_user' (a standard user under which the application runs). The CSV file is located at /var/data/inventory.csv and currently has permissions -rw-rw---- and owner root:root. The application code uses the open() function to read and write the file. Which of the following actions should be taken to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Change the group ownership to a group that includes 'app_user' and ensure the file has group write permission.. The application runs as 'app_user', which needs to write to /var/data/inventory.csv. The file is owned by root:root with permissions -rw-rw----, meaning only root and the root group can write. Changing the group ownership to a group that includes 'app_user' and granting group write permission (e.g., chown root:app_group /var/data/inventory.csv; chmod 664 /var/data/inventory.csv) allows the application to write without elevating privileges or exposing the file to all users.

Answer

Modify the application to run as 'admin' using sudo.

Answer

Set the file permissions to 644 so all users can read the file.

Answer

Change the file owner to 'app_user' and set permissions to 755.

Question 19

Drag and drop the steps to create a new folder on the desktop in Windows 10 into the correct order.

Question 20

Drag and drop the steps to uninstall a program in Windows 10 into the correct order.