Implementing relationships among classes of analysis pattern languages using aspects

Patterns within an analysis pattern language are related to each other in several ways: the application of a pattern can result in the application of another, a pattern can be applied only if another pattern was applied (or was not applied), etc. Also, several variants of a pattern may co-exist, and the application of a particular variant can lead to the inclusion or removal of associations between classes that form the pattern. In this paper, we show how we have used aspect-oriented programming to implement relationships between classes of an analysis pattern or between classes shared by more than one pattern. This allows the incremental development of a framework to support the pattern language, and also eases the instantiation of patterns and pattern variants.