A java Agent to inspect all JVM running classes?

Question

I am trying do an academic project on BCI and JavaAssist. I would be glad if anyone could help me with these:

Is it possible to build a java agent which can inspect/control all classes running currently in the JVM?
Is it possible to build a java object as a composite of objects(sub objects), so that these sub-objects can evolve dynamically updating their behavior on the fly while the main java object is still running?

"composite of objects(sub objects)" i was wondering if you could clarify this phrase. thanks — vijay, Sep 05 '13 at 19:00
a class which contains sub classes (a object which is made up of sub objects) — Ram Inamdar, Sep 07 '13 at 17:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 05 '13 at 17:37

The short answer is yes.

As a starting point you could use asm library. This is a usefull presentation http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/presentations2012/30_presentation.pdf

This library can be used for instrumentation, inspection and dynamic code generation which can then be loaded using a classloader.

1 Answers1