Implementing distribution and persistence aspects with aspectJ

ABSTRACT

This paper reports our experience using AspectJ, a general-purpose aspect-oriented extension to Java, to implement distribution and persistence aspects in a web-based information system. This system was originally implemented in Java and restructured with AspectJ. Our main contribution is to show that AspectJ is useful for implementing several persistence and distribution concerns in the application considered, and other similar applications. We have also identified a few drawbacks in the language and suggest some minor modifications that could significantly improve similar implementations. Despite the drawbacks, we argue that the AspectJ implementation is superior to the pure Java implementation. Some of the aspects implemented in our experiment are abstract and constitute a simple aspect framework. The other aspects are application specific but we suggest that different implementations might follow the same aspect pattern. The framework and the pattern allow us to propose architecture-specific guidelines that provide practical advice for both restructuring and implementing certain kinds of persistent and distributed applications with AspectJ.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications

General Terms:
Experimentation, Languages, Standardization

Keywords:
aspect-oriented programming, aspectJ, distributed programming, object persistence, separation of concerns