In python, I can use eval() to execute user entered code in my program. Is there anything similar I can do in Groovy? I want to have a SWING UI textbox where the user enters
There are multiple ways of running Groovy (from both inside Java and Groovy):
http://groovy-lang.org/integrating.html
The quickest method however (for simple scripts), is probably to use the Eval class:
http://groovy-lang.org/integrating.html#integ-eval
Which would let you do something like:
Eval.me( '2 + 2' )
See this page from more examples:
http://mrhaki.blogspot.com/2009/11/groovy-goodness-simple-evaluation-of.html