JavAdaptor: unrestricted dynamic software updates for Java

Dynamic software updates (DSU) are one of the top-most features requested by developers and users. As a result, DSU is already standard in many dynamic programming languages. But, it is not standard in statically typed languages such as Java. Even if at place number three of Oracle´s current request for enhancement (RFE) list, DSU support in Java is very limited. Therefore, over the years many different DSU approaches for Java have been proposed. Nevertheless, DSU for Java is still an active field of research, because most of the existing approaches are too restrictive. Some of the approaches have shortcomings either in terms of flexibility or performance, whereas others are platform dependent or dictate the program´s architecture. With JavAdaptor, we present the first DSU approach which comes without those restrictions. We will demonstrate JavAdaptor based on the well-known arcade game Snake which we will update stepwise at runtime.