BeanShell

Infobox programming language
name = BeanShell
logo =
paradigm = object-oriented, scripting
year = 2000
designer = JCP
developer =
latest_release_version = 1.3.0
latest_release_date =
latest_test_version = 2.0b4
latest_test_date =
typing = dynamic, strong
implementations =
dialects =
influenced_by = Python, Ruby, Perl, Smalltalk, Java
operating_system = Cross platform (JVM)
license = LGPL
website = http://www.beanshell.org/

BeanShell is a Java scripting language, invented by Patrick Niemeyer. It runs in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and utilizes Java's own syntax, in addition to scripting commands and syntax. While BeanShell allows its users to define functions that can be called from within a script, its underpinning philosophy has been to not pollute its syntax with too many extensions and "syntactic sugar", thereby ensuring that code written for a Java compiler can almost always be executed interpretively by BeanShell without any changes and, almost just as much, vice versa. This makes BeanShell a popular testing and debugging tool.

BeanShell supports scripted objects as simple method closures like those in Perl and JavaScript.

BeanShell is an open source project and has been incorporated into many applications, such as OpenOffice.org, Apache Ant, BEA WebLogic Application Server, jEdit, and many others. BeanShell provides an easy to integrate API. It can also be run in command-line mode or within its own graphical environment.

BeanShell is currently undergoing standardization through the Java Community Process (JCP) under [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=274 JSR 274] .

Following the JCP approval of the [http://jcp.org/en/jsr/results?id=3208 BeanShell JSR Review Ballot] in June 2005, no visible activity was taking place around BeanShell.

A fork of BeanShell, [http://code.google.com/p/beanshell2/ beanshell2] , was created in May 2007 on the Google Code website. The "beanshell2" project has made a number of fixes and enhancements to BeanShell, but has not so far made a stable release.

See also

* Boo
* Groovy
* Java Tcl
* JRuby
* Jython
* REBOL
* Comparison of programming languages
* Comparison of computer shells
* ZK (an Ajax framework supporting BeanShell)

External links

* [http://www.beanshell.org BeanShell homepage]
* [http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=274 JSR-274: BeanShell Java Specification Request]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/nekhttpd1/ A BeanShell-enabled web server]
* [http://code.google.com/p/beanshell2/ Beanshell2 homepage]