Perhaps what you want is BeanShell
BeanShell is a small, free, embeddable Java source interpreter with object scripting language features, written in Java. BeanShell 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.
You can use BeanShell interactively for Java experimentation and debugging as well as to extend your applications in new ways. Scripting Java lends itself to a wide variety of applications including rapid prototyping, user scripting extension, rules engines, configuration, testing, dynamic deployment, embedded systems, and even Java education.
BeanShell is small and embeddable, so you can call BeanShell from your Java applications to execute Java code dynamically at run-time or to provide extensibility in your applications. Alternatively, you can use standalone BeanShell scripts to manipulate Java applications; working with Java objects and APIs dynamically. Since BeanShell is written in Java and runs in the same VM as your application, you can freely pass references to "live" objects into scripts and return them as results.
In short, BeanShell is dynamically interpreted Java, plus a scripting language and flexible environment all rolled into one clean package.
Summary of features
- Dynamic execution of the full Java syntax, Java code fragments, as well as loosely typed Java and additional scripting conveniences.
- Transparent access to all Java objects and APIs.
- Runs in four modes: Command Line, Console, Applet, Remote Session Server.
- Can work in security constrained environments without a classloader or bytecode generation for most features.
- The interpreter is small ~150K jar file.
- Pure Java.
- It's Free!!
An alternative is to use a library I wrote which wraps the Compiler API so that it compiles in memory and loads into the current ClassLoader (by default)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/essence/files/Essence%20Java%20Config.%20Files/Essence%20JCF%201.02/
http://vanillajava.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/more-uses-for-dynamic-code-in-java.html
// this writes the file to disk only when debugging is enabled.
CachedCompiler cc = CompilerUtils.DEBUGGING ?
new CachedCompiler(new File(parent, "src/test/java"), new File(parent, "target/compiled")) :
CompilerUtils.CACHED_COMPILER;
String text = "generated test " + new Date();
Class fooBarTeeClass = cc.loadFromJava("eg.FooBarTee", "package eg;\n" +
'\n' +
"import eg.components.BarImpl;\n" +
"import eg.components.TeeImpl;\n" +
"import eg.components.Foo;\n" +
'\n' +
"public class FooBarTee{\n" +
" public final String name;\n" +
" public final TeeImpl tee;\n" +
" public final BarImpl bar;\n" +
" public final BarImpl copy;\n" +
" public final Foo foo;\n" +
'\n' +
" public FooBarTee(String name) {\n" +
" // when viewing this file, ensure it is synchronised with the copy on disk.\n" +
" System.out.println(\"" + text + "\");\n" +
" this.name = name;\n" +
'\n' +
" tee = new TeeImpl(\"test\");\n" +
'\n' +
" bar = new BarImpl(tee, 55);\n" +
'\n' +
" copy = new BarImpl(tee, 555);\n" +
'\n' +
" // you should see the current date here after synchronisation.\n" +
" foo = new Foo(bar, copy, \"" + text + "\", 5);\n" +
" }\n" +
'\n' +
" public void start() {\n" +
" }\n" +
'\n' +
" public void stop() {\n" +
" }\n" +
'\n' +
" public void close() {\n" +
" stop();\n" +
'\n' +
" }\n" +
"}\n");
// add a debug break point here and step into this method.
FooBarTee fooBarTee = new FooBarTee("test foo bar tee");
Foo foo = fooBarTee.foo;
assertNotNull(foo);
assertEquals(text, foo.s);