Bridging Java and AspectJ through explicit join points

ABSTRACT

Through AspectJ, aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is becoming of increasing interest and availability to Java programmers as it matures as a methodology for improved software modularity via the separation of cross-cutting concerns. AOP proponents often advocate a development strategy where Java programmers write the main application, ignoring cross-cutting concerns, and then AspectJ programmers, domain experts in their specific concerns, weave in the logic for these more specialized cross-cutting concerns. However, several authors have recently debated the merits of this strategy by empirically showing certain drawbacks. The proposed solutions paint a different development strategy where base code and aspect programmers are aware of each other (to varying degrees) and interactions between cross-cutting concerns are planned for early on.

Herein we explore new possibilities in the language design space that open up when the base code is aware of cross-cutting aspects. Using our insights from this exploration we concretize these new possibilities by extending AspectJ with concise yet powerful constructs, while maintaining full backwards compatibility. These new constructs allow base code and aspects to cooperate in ways that were previously not possible: arbitrary blocks of code can be advised, advice can be explicitly parameterized, base code can guide aspects in where to apply advice, and aspects can statically enforce new constraints upon the base code that they advise. These new techniques allow aspect modularity and program safety to increase. We illustrate the value of our extensions through an example based on transactions.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features
          Subjects: Procedures, functions, and subroutines

General Terms:
Design, Languages

Keywords:
aspect-oriented programming, join point, modularity