Smart Pointers interview questions

15 real Smart Pointers questions from the Rust bank, as asked in Indian campus drives and tech interviews. Every question has a verified answer and an AI-tutor explanation on placd — free to start.

1. What is Box?

Junior
  1. A.a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  2. B.the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  3. C.a thread-safe reference-counted pointer that uses atomic operations on its counter so ownership can be shared across threads
  4. D.a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
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3. Which statement is correct?

Junior
  1. A.Box — the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  2. B.Box — a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  3. C.Box — a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.Box — a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
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4. What is Rc?

Mid
  1. A.the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  2. B.a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  3. C.a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  4. D.a thread-safe reference-counted pointer that uses atomic operations on its counter so ownership can be shared across threads
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6. Which statement is correct?

Mid
  1. A.Rc — a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  2. B.Rc — a thread-safe reference-counted pointer that uses atomic operations on its counter so ownership can be shared across threads
  3. C.Rc — a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.Rc — a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
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7. What is Arc?

Mid
  1. A.a thread-safe reference-counted pointer that uses atomic operations on its counter so ownership can be shared across threads
  2. B.the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  3. C.a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  4. D.a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
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9. Which statement is correct?

Mid
  1. A.Arc — a thread-safe reference-counted pointer that uses atomic operations on its counter so ownership can be shared across threads
  2. B.Arc — a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  3. C.Arc — a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.Arc — a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
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10. What is RefCell?

Senior
  1. A.the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  2. B.a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  3. C.a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
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12. Which statement is correct?

Senior
  1. A.RefCell — the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
  2. B.RefCell — a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  3. C.RefCell — a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.RefCell — a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
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13. What is Interior mutability?

Senior
  1. A.a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  2. B.a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  3. C.a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  4. D.the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
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15. Which statement is correct?

Senior
  1. A.Interior mutability — a container enforcing the borrow rules at runtime rather than compile time, panicking if conflicting borrows occur
  2. B.Interior mutability — a smart pointer that stores its single owned value on the heap, used for recursive types or large data
  3. C.Interior mutability — a single-threaded reference-counted pointer enabling multiple owners of the same heap value, freed when the last owner drops
  4. D.Interior mutability — the pattern of mutating data through a shared reference by deferring the aliasing check to runtime
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