API / Apache FreeMarker Interview questions

What is the purpose of interpolation (${...}) in FreeMarker?

An interpolation inserts the text value of an expression into the surrounding literal output. Written as ${expression}, it works inside plain text sections of a template - the expression is evaluated against the data model, converted to a string, and spliced into the output at that exact position.

Older FreeMarker versions also had a numerical interpolation form, #{expression}, used to apply a number format inline; it is now considered legacy and largely replaced by combining ${...} with the ?string built-in, for example ${price?string["0.00"]}, which is clearer and consistent with how every other formatting need is expressed.

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What does ${user.name} do inside a template's literal text?Declares a new variable called user

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Starts a loop over the user's properties

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Evaluates user.name and inserts its text value at that spot

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Comments out the rest of the line

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Why is the legacy #{expr} numerical interpolation rarely used in modern templates??string combined with ${...} covers the same formatting need more consistently

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It only works inside HTML tables

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It was removed entirely from FreeMarker 2.3.x

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Both A and none of the others - it's simply considered legacy in favor of ?string

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What is the purpose of interpolation (${...}) in FreeMarker? List the comparison operators supported in FreeMarker? What are the main use cases of FreeMarker? What are the types in FreeMarker's data model? How do you use the #assign directive? Describe the built-ins available in FreeMarker? How do you access static Java members (static methods, fields, and enum constants) from a FreeMarker template? What is Apache FreeMarker? What is the purpose of the FreeMarker Configuration object? What is the difference between FreeMarker's #switch/#case and a chain of #if/#elseif directives? What is the purpose of the <#if> directive? What are the types of loops available in FreeMarker? What is the difference between #assign and #local? How do you apply default values for missing variables in FreeMarker? Why doesn't FreeMarker allow templates unrestricted access to Java reflection and side-effecting method calls? What is the purpose of the incompatible_improvements setting? Define directive in FreeMarker? Which is generally the better choice for a new project today, FreeMarker or Velocity, and why? What is a FreeMarker template? What is the purpose of the #include directive?

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