Pure java alternative to GIMP with *live* plugin development?

Question

Basically, I want to combine the Eclipse compiler+Java source editor with a nice Java GUI for image editing/processing in order to allow code-based image processing plugin development directly inside the image processing app.

What's the easiest solution for doing that? Start off with Eclipse and build an image processing tool out of it? Or just use parts of Eclipse (editor+compiler)? Are there any example projects doing something similar?

Answer 1

Marvin Framework provides feature extensibility through plug-in interface. Basically, it allow you to implement an image processing algorithm as a Java class that can be loaded dynamically on your application.

Regarding your idea, consider a Java application combining an image editing software and a source code editor. After writing the image processing algorithm, the user clicks on "Execute". The application:

1. saves the source code as .java file.
2. call the Java compiter to generate the .class
3. Load the new class dynamically into the application through Java Reflection

It is basically what MarvinEditor does to let developers to add new plug-ins to the application. Take a look at Marvin Prototyping Environment. It's similar to your idea.