Aspect-Oriented Programming Reloaded

Abstract

Many programs have crosscutting concerns for which neither procedural nor object-oriented programming adequately modularize, which has led to the idea of aspect-oriented programming (AOP). However, AOP has not found favor with the programming languages community due to a belief that AOP breaks classical modularity and modular reasoning. We propose a new AOP programming model that enables both crosscutting modularity and modular reasoning. This model is implemented by AspectJML, a general-purpose aspect-oriented extension to Java. It supports modular crosscutting concerns using key object-oriented mechanisms, such as hierarchical structure, and allows reasoning that scales to ever-larger programs.