Top 30 Gradle Interview Questions with Answers for Java Developers

Hello guys, if you are preparing for Java developer interview then you must have come across Gradle, a Groovy based build tool which is gaining popular with Java community. While its not mandatory to learn Gradle for Java Interview if the job description mention Gradle or Groovy then you should prepare Gradle is one of the essential tool for Java developers. It's similar to  Maven and ANT, two other popular build tool for Java project but offers several advantages which I have explained in Maven vs Gradle post earlier.  These Gradle questions are good for both beginners and Java developer with 1 to 3 years of experience which are using Gradle in their project or expecting Gradle question on Java Interview.

If you have worked in Gradle then most likely you can answer all of these questions but if you struggle to answer them then you can always go back and join one of these Gradle books and online courses to learn Gradle in depth. 

30 Gradle Interview Questions with Answers for 1 to 3 years

Without wasting anymore of your time, here is a list of 30 frequently asked Gradle Interview Questions with Answers. I have tried to cover key Gradle concepts using these questions and you can use them before your phone or face-to-face interviews. These Gradle questions are not just useful for Java developers but also for DevOps engineers and anyone who is using Gradle for building projects. 

1. What are the two types of plugins in Gradle?
Answer: Two types of plugins in Gradle are:

• Script Plugins: This provides the additional build script which gives a declarative approach for manipulating the build, and is typically used within a particular build.
• Binary Plugins: These consist of the classes which are responsible for implementing the plugin interface. It adopts a programmatic approach in order to perform manipulation of the build.

2. What is the process of installing Eclipse Gradle?
Answer: To install Eclipse Gradle, follow these steps:

• Open the Eclipse
• After that, go to the toolbar and select the help menu. Next, ensure that it installs the new software.
• After that click on the section to add it
• Name the section to save it
• After clicking ok, check every checkbox, and after that click on the tab finish section.

3. What is Dependency Configuration?
Answer: A configuration dependency is a set of dependencies that includes external dependency that you require to install and ensure that the downloading is happening via the web. Some key features of dependency configuration are:

• Compilation: The initial project that you will start and work on should be well-compiled. Also, ensure that you maintain it in good condition.
• Runtime: Runtime is the preferred time that you need to complete the work dependency in a collection form.
• Test Compile: It requires a complete collection for making the project run.
• Test runtime: It’s the final process that requires the checking to complete for running a test which is the default runtime mode.

4. What are some advantages of Gradle?
Answer:

• Gradle is a combination of both Maven and Apache Ant. It takes the best part of these tools like flexibility from Ant and from Maven, plugins, and convention on configuration dependency management.
• It supports all project builds.
• It manages the library in a better way
• It is flexible and configurable.

5. Which programming language can use Gradle?
Answer: Some of the programming languages that can use Gradle are as follows:

• Spock
• Cano
• Groovy
• Hibernate
• Gant
• Spring Integration
• Griffon
• Grails
• FCC

6. What is Gradle Wrapper?
Answer: The Gradle Wrapper is the preferred way of starting a Gradle build. The wrapper is a batch script on Windows and a shell script for other operating systems. When we start a Gradle build via the wrapper, Gradle will be automatically downloaded and used to run the build.

7. What is the file name built by Gradle?
Answer: Build.gradle is the name of the file name that Gradle builds.

8. What are the tools to install Gradle via package manager?
Answer: The following are the tools to install Gradle via package manager:

• SDKMAN! is a tool for managing parallel versions of multiple Software Development Kits on most Unix-based systems.
• Homebrew is “the missing package manager for macOS”.

9. What is a build scan?
Answer: A build scan is a representation of data captured as you run your build. The Build Scan Plugin does the work of capturing the data and sending it to the Build Scan Service which transforms the data into information you can use and share with others. A build scan is defined as a shareable record of a build. It provides insights into what happened and why. It allows creating a build scan at scans.gradle.com for the Gradle and Maven build tools for free.

10. How do you find Gradle project dependencies?
Answer: Use the Gradle command gradle dependencies that lists the dependencies of the selected project. It includes both direct and transitive dependencies.

11. What is Gradle Daemon?
Answer: The Daemon is a long-lived process that helps with the faster build process, by avoiding the cost of JVM startup for every build and also caches information about project structure, files, tasks, and more in memory.

12. What are the benefits of Daemon in Gradle 3.0?
Answer: some of the benefits of Gradle daemon are:

• It has good UX
• It is very powerful
• It is aware of the resource
• It is well integrated with the Gradle Build scans
• It has been default enabled

13. In which programming language should one develop plugins for Gradle?
Answer: One can develop plugins for Gradle in any JVM language such as Java, Scala etc.

14. What is the main difference between Maven build.xml and Build.gradle script?
Answer: Maven build.xml is xml document that includes start and end tags while Build.gradle is a Groovy script which has syntax similar to Java.

15. Why Gradle Is Preferred Over Other Build Tools?
Answer: Gradle build script is written using groovy API which has the syntax similar to Java so it is easy to understand.

16. How Do You Run Gradle Build?
Answer: Execute Gradle build using the Gradle command.

17. How does Gradle achieve faster performance?
Answer: Gradle improves build speed by reusing computations from previous builds and also uses cache information.

18. What is Gradle Dependency Management?
Answer: Gradle Dependency Management involves the programming of dependencies that operate in the form to build projects and Gradle work in a particular path which leads to a unique syntax that is termed as dependencies.

19. What are Repositories in Gradle?
Answer: Repository is nothing but a collection of files, organized by group, name and version. By default, Gradle does not define any repositories.

20. What version of Gradle is in the market currently?
Answer: The latest version of Gradle automation that is available in the market is 3.5. Released in 2017, it is quick and fast than the previous versions. To know what version of local Gradle you are using, use the –v command.

21. What is the difference between settings.gradle and gradle.properties?
Answer: settings.gradle is a Groovy script that defines build related settings and not project related settings while gradle.properties is a simple Java Properties file. It is a simple key-value store.

22. How do I add gradle dependencies?
Answer: To add a dependency to your project, specify a dependency configuration such as compile under the dependencies block of your build.gradle file.

23. In which programming language should one develop plugins for Gradle?
Answer: One can develop plugins for Gradle in any JVM language such as Java, Scala and others.

24. Difference between API and implementation in Gradle.
Answer: The API configuration should be used to declare dependencies that are exported by the library API, while the implementation configuration should be used to declare dependencies that are internal to the component.

25. What are the system requirements to install and run Gradle?
Answer: System requirements to install and run Gradle are as follows:

• JDK version 6 or above
• JDK libraries must set in JAVA_HOME

26. What is the current stable version of Gradle?
Answer: the current stable version of Gradle is Gradle 6.0

27. Is Using Groovy For My Build Scripts Deprecated?
Answer: No. Gradle’s Groovy support is not deprecated and will continue to be supported.

28. How does Gradle achieve faster performance?
Answer: Gradle improves build speed by reusing computations from previous builds and also uses cache information.

29. What is Closure is Gradle?
Answer: Gradle DSL uses closures in many places. Where the last parameter of a method is a closure, closure can be placed after the method call.

30. Do I Have To Use Intellij Idea When Using Kotlin For Gradle?
Answer: No. Although JetBrains is the company behind IDEA and also the inventor and driving force behind Kotlin, JetBrains is also committed to providing Kotlin support for Eclipse.

That's all about common Gradle Interview Questions for Java Programmers. You can use these questions to quickly revise key Gradle concepts before your interview. If you have been preparing for Gradle questions then you must have now seen how these questions with answers are going to be very useful to you during the Gradle interview that you will be subjected to in the near future. 

You just have to make sure that you get everything right and all will be well. Make good use of these questions with answers and you will not regret it in the end. And, if you want to learn Gradle better or revise Gradle then you can always go back and check these best Gradle Courses for Java Programmers. 


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