Java Enhancement Proposal 159, Enhanced Class Redefinition, calls for enhanced JVM capabilities in regards to class redefinition at runtime. Specifically the proposal includes the following class redefinition operations:
- Adding super types
- Adding methods
- Adding static fields
- Adding instance fields
- Removing methods
- Removing static fields
- Removing instance fields
Current JVM class redefinition capabilities are limited to method swapping. This is viewed as extremely restrictive. With the new proposed enhancement, developers will not have to restart their applications after changes. This is especially beneficial when dealing with large and distributed systems.
