What Does BeanShell Mean?
BeanShell is an open-source embeddable Java source interpreter which has object scripting language features developed in Java. Developed by Patrick Niemeyer, BeanShell runs in the Java Runtime Environment and makes use of a variation of the Java syntax. BeanShell has been used in many applications like Apache Ant, WebLogic Server and Apache OpenOffice. BeanShell is also a popular debugging and testing tool for the Java Virtual Machine platform.
Techopedia Explains BeanShell
BeanShell provides an easy-to-integrate API and can be run in both graphical and command-line environments. BeanShell is capable of dynamically executing standard Java syntax, Java code fragments, loosely typed Java code and provide extensibility to Java applications. It also provides transparent access to all Java objects and APIs. In many ways, BeanShell can be considered a package consisting of dynamically interpreted Java, scripting language and a flexible environment. BeanShell can be run in four modes: Console, Command Line, Remote Session Server and Applet. Similar to Perl and JavaScript, BeanShell supports scripted objects as simple method closures. The scripting features include event handlers, error reporting and method closures.
BeanShell has a wide range of uses. It can aid in remote debugging, user scripting extension, configuration, testing and dynamic deployment. It can help in exploring Interactive Java. BeanShell with the help of full Java syntax can also be used to replace properties files and start up config files with real scripts to perform complex initialization and setups. BeanShell is also used in evaluating full Java source classes dynamically and also in evaluating Java statements, expressions and methods.
