[google-appengine] Re: Compile and execute code at runtime

[Nick Johnson (Google)]

Hi Albert,

It's not possible to access the command line compiler from a Java App Engine
app. It may be possible to use internal reflection functionality to compile
the code, but you'd need to ask someone with more expertise in Java - asking
this in the google-appengine-java group will probably get you more useful
responses.

If the code doesn't have to be in Java, you might want to consider
Javascript - there are several embeddable Javascript interpreters for Java,
including Rhino, and they would make the application you describe quite
straightfoward to write.

-Nick Johnson

On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:41 PM, Albert Attard wrote:

>
> Hi everyone:
>
> Background about the problem:
> I'm a Java lecturer and would like to create an automated question web
> application similar to an extended version of multiple choice answers
> by which the students can practice coding.
>
> Multiple choice questions are very popular in web exams as these are
> fully automated. You do the test and the system corrects it for you
> and gives you the results there and then. I would like to go one step
> further and have the student to supply a code fragment or even a class
> (es) and have the system automatically correcting it in a similar
> fashion to the multiple choice questions.
>
> Example (in a nutshell):
> The student is asked to write a method: that given an array of int and
> two indices of type int (between 0 and the size of the array - 1),
> this method will swap the elements at the given indices. The student
> will write the method in the text area and submit it. Then the system
> will include this method into a class, compile it and by using
> reflection execute it with an array of values to ensure that it is
> working as expected. During this process the system will be awarding
> the student marks and will display the final result together with
> comments as required.
>
> Google Appengine
> I have a prototype and it works great on Tomcat. Yes I know that it is
> subject to Java code injection but that's not an issue at this stage.
> This issue can be fixed at a later stage. Unfortunately I cannot
> implement it on the Google Appengine as most of the required
> functionality, such as writing to a file, is disabled.
>
> Is there a way (or a procedure) of implementing such a system on the
> Google Appengine? This application will be a free education tool for
> everyone who would like to use it.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Albert Attard
>
> >
>


-- 
Nick Johnson, Developer Programs Engineer, App Engine

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[google-appengine] Re: Compile and execute code at runtime

[Albert Attard]

Thanks, will forward this query to the Java guys.
In the mean time, I'll deploy my prototype on a Tomcat Server

Cheers,
Albert Attard

Joan Crawford
- "I, Joan Crawford, I believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I
spend."

2009/7/27 Nick Johnson (Google) 

> Hi Albert,
>
> It's not possible to access the command line compiler from a Java App
> Engine app. It may be possible to use internal reflection functionality to
> compile the code, but you'd need to ask someone with more expertise in Java
> - asking this in the google-appengine-java group will probably get you more
> useful responses.
>
> If the code doesn't have to be in Java, you might want to consider
> Javascript - there are several embeddable Javascript interpreters for Java,
> including Rhino, and they would make the application you describe quite
> straightfoward to write.
>
> -Nick Johnson
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:41 PM, Albert Attard wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi everyone:
>>
>> Background about the problem:
>> I'm a Java lecturer and would like to create an automated question web
>> application similar to an extended version of multiple choice answers
>> by which the students can practice coding.
>>
>> Multiple choice questions are very popular in web exams as these are
>> fully automated. You do the test and the system corrects it for you
>> and gives you the results there and then. I would like to go one step
>> further and have the student to supply a code fragment or even a class
>> (es) and have the system automatically correcting it in a similar
>> fashion to the multiple choice questions.
>>
>> Example (in a nutshell):
>> The student is asked to write a method: that given an array of int and
>> two indices of type int (between 0 and the size of the array - 1),
>> this method will swap the elements at the given indices. The student
>> will write the method in the text area and submit it. Then the system
>> will include this method into a class, compile it and by using
>> reflection execute it with an array of values to ensure that it is
>> working as expected. During this process the system will be awarding
>> the student marks and will display the final result together with
>> comments as required.
>>
>> Google Appengine
>> I have a prototype and it works great on Tomcat. Yes I know that it is
>> subject to Java code injection but that's not an issue at this stage.
>> This issue can be fixed at a later stage. Unfortunately I cannot
>> implement it on the Google Appengine as most of the required
>> functionality, such as writing to a file, is disabled.
>>
>> Is there a way (or a procedure) of implementing such a system on the
>> Google Appengine? This application will be a free education tool for
>> everyone who would like to use it.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Albert Attard
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Nick Johnson, Developer Programs Engineer, App Engine
>
> >
>

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