BeanShell

{{Infobox programming language

| name = BeanShell

| logo =

| paradigm = Object-oriented, scripting

| year = {{Start date and age|1999}}

| designer = JCP

| developer =

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|reference|P348}}

| latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}

| typing = Dynamic, strong

| implementations =

| dialects =

| influenced_by = Java, JavaScript, Perl

| platform = JVM

| operating_system = Cross-platform

| programming language = Java

| license = 2012: Apache-2.0{{efn|Apache-2.0: Since 2.0b5}}{{cite web | url=http://www.beanshell.org/license.html | title=BeanShell Software License | first=Pat | last=Niemeyer | website=beanshell.org | access-date=January 13, 2016}}{{ cite web | url=https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell | title=BeanShell |website=github.com | access-date=January 13, 2016}}
2001: SPL-1.0 or LGPL-2.1-only{{efn|SPL-1.0 or LGPL-2.1-only: From 1.1alpha5 to 2.0b4}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell/blob/master/CHANGES.md|title=CHANGES.md|website=GitHub }}
1999: LGPL-2.1-only{{efn|LGPL-2.1-only: 1.0 to 1.1alpha3}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell/blob/1.0/BeanShell/src/License.txt|title=License.txt in 1.0|website=GitHub }}

| website = {{URL|https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell}}

}}

BeanShell is a small, free, embeddable Java source interpreter with object scripting language features, written in Java. It runs in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), dynamically executes standard Java syntax and extends it with common scripting conveniences such as loose types, commands, and method closures, like those in Perl and JavaScript.

Features

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 usually be executed interpretively by BeanShell without any changes and, almost just as much, vice versa. This makes BeanShell a popular testing and debugging tool for the Java virtual machine (JVM) platform.

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 Apache OpenOffice, Apache Ant, WebLogic Server Application Server, Apache JMeter, jEdit, ImageJ, JUMP GIS, Apache Taverna, and many others. BeanShell provides an easy to integrate application programming interface (API). It can also be run in command-line mode or within its own graphical environment.

History

The first versions of BeanShell (0.96, 1.0) were released by Patrick Niemeyer in 1999, followed by a series of versions. BeanShell 1.3.0 was released in August 2003. Version 2.0b1 was released in September 2003, culminating with version 2.0b4 in May 2005, which as of January 2015 is the newest release posted on the official webpage.{{cite web|title=BeanShell Downloads|url=http://beanshell.org/download.html|website=beanshell.org|access-date=28 January 2015|date=2009-01-28}}

BeanShell has been included in the Linux distribution Debian since 1999.{{cite web|title=Source Package: bsh (2.0b4-12)|url=https://packages.debian.org/source/stable/bsh|website=Debian|access-date=28 January 2015}}

BeanShell was undergoing standardization through the Java Community Process (JCP) under JSR 274.[http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=274 The Java Community Process(SM) Program - JSRs: Java Specification Requests - detail JSR# 274]. Jcp.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.

Following the JCP approval of the BeanShell JSR Review Ballot in June 2005, no visible activity was taking place around BeanShell.{{Cite web|url=https://jcp.org/en/jsr/results?id=3208|title=The Java Community Process(SM) Program - JSRs: Java Specification Requests - results|website=jcp.org}} The JSR 274 status is "Dormant".

Since Java 9, Java instead includes JShell, a different read–eval–print loop (REPL) shell based on Java syntax, indicating that BeanShell will not be continued.{{Cite web|title = JEP 222: jshell: The Java Shell (Read-Eval-Print Loop)|url = http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/222|website = openjdk.java.net|access-date = 2015-09-03}}

A fork of BeanShell, BeanShell2, was created in May 2007 on the now-defunct Google Code Web site.[https://code.google.com/p/beanshell2/ beanshell2 - fork of BeanShell - Google Project Hosting]. Code.google.com (2011-11-21). Retrieved on 2013-07-21. The beanshell2 project has made a number of fixes and enhancements to BeanShell and multiple releases. {{As of|January 2020}}, the latest version of BeanShell2 is v2.1.9, released March 2018.{{cite web |last1=Jodeleit |first1=Peter |title=README.md |website=GitHub |url=https://github.com/pejobo/beanshell2/blob/0ed03360b61316b755742257f163b5fb564d821a/dist/README.md |access-date=23 January 2020}} This fork was merged back into the original tree in 2018,{{cite web|url=https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell/issues/46|title=Fork to investigate possible merge · Issue #46 · beanshell/Beanshell |website=GitHub }} retaining all the independent changes from both, and the official project has been hosted at GitHub.https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell GitHub - beanshell/beanshell: Beanshell, a scripting language for the Java Virtual Machine. Retrieved on 2018-03-06.

In December 2012, following a proposal to accept BeanShell as an Apache Incubator project,{{cite web|author1=Tripodi, S|author2=Bazley, S|title=BeanShell proposal|url=https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/BeanShellProposal|website=Incubator Wiki|publisher=Apache Software Foundation|date=2012}} BeanShell was licensed to The Apache Software Foundation and migrated to the Apache Extras,{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/beanshell/beanshell|title=beanshell/beanshell|date=January 27, 2021|via=GitHub}} changing the license to Apache License 2.0. The project was not accepted but instead projected to become part of the Apache Commons at a future time.

Due to changes in the developers' personal circumstances, the BeanShell community did not, however, complete the move to Apache,{{cite web|last1=Tripodi|first1=Simone|title=Beanshell under Apache?|url=https://www.mail-archive.com/dev@taverna.incubator.apache.org/msg00224.html|website=Apache Taverna developer mailing list|publisher=Apache Software Foundation|access-date=28 January 2015|date=2015-01-08}} but remained at Apache Extras. The project has since released BeanShell 2.0b5, which is used by Apache OpenOffice and Apache Taverna.

A Windows automated installer, BeanShell Double-Click,SourceForge:projects/beanshelldouble/. Sourceforge.net. Retrieved on 2013-07-21. was created in 2013. It includes desktop integration features.