The HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) protocol is typically used to securely send data over the web. It encrypts the data being transmitted, providing confidentiality and integrity. FTP, HTTP, and SMTP are different protocols with their own purposes, but they are not primarily designed for secure data transfer.

In Java, variable names must start with a letter, underscore (_), or dollar sign ($) and may be followed by letters, digits, underscores, or dollar signs. Option 2 (123var) is invalid because it starts with a digit, which is not allowed.

The DatabaseMetaData interface in JDBC provides methods for retrieving metadata about the database, including information about its structure (tables, schemas), the user associated with the connection, and more. It's essential for database introspection and querying the database schema. The other options are not used for this purpose.

The class ObjectOutputStream in Java is used for writing primitive Java data types to an output stream in a portable way. It provides methods for writing various data types to the stream.

When there are multiple case labels that match the switch expression in Java, only the first-matching case will be executed. Subsequent cases with matching labels will be ignored, ensuring that only the first matching case block is executed.

In Java, when considering threading and concurrent access, the CopyOnWriteArrayList can introduce higher overhead in managing read and write access. This is because it creates a new copy of the underlying array every time a modification operation is performed (e.g., add or remove). While this ensures thread safety during iterations, it can be inefficient for scenarios with frequent write operations. So, option (c) is correct, with the explanation that CopyOnWriteArrayList is used for thread-safe iteration but may introduce overhead in write operations.

In Java, to retrieve the result of a computation from a Future object, you use the get() method. The get() method blocks until the computation is complete and then returns the result. This is a fundamental method when working with concurrent programming and asynchronous tasks.

The read() method of the FileReader class returns -1 when the end of the file is reached. This indicates that there are no more characters to read from the file.

In Java, when a subclass overrides a method from its superclass, it must adhere to the method signature, including the exceptions it can throw. If the superclass method declares exceptions, the overriding method can declare the same exceptions or subtypes of those exceptions. This rule ensures that the subclass does not throw unexpected exceptions.

In this code snippet, Java performs string concatenation when you use the '+' operator with a string and another data type. So, "2" + 3 results in "23". The integer 3 is automatically converted to a string and then concatenated with "2".