Implementing distribution and persistence aspects with aspectJ

Abstract

This paper reports our experience using AspectJ, a generalpurpose 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.

Where the Truth Lies: AOP and Its Impact on Software Modularity

“…AOP emergenced as a new paradigm to modularize the concerns whose implementations would otherwise have been spread throughout the whole application, because of the limited abstractions of the underlying programming languages. Since then, several studies [15,16,17,19,35,36] have suggested that AOP is successful in modularizing crosscutting concerns. Unfortunately, these studies either wrongly identify modularization with the lexical SoC offered by AOP, or wrongly measure coupling in AO systems.…”

“…• EImp, which is an Eclipse Plugin that supports collaborative software development for distributed teams; • Health Watcher, which is a web-based information system that was developed by Soares [36] for the healthcare bureau of the city of Recife, Brazil. The system aims to improve the quality of services provided by the healthcare institution, allowing citizens to register complaints regarding health issues, and the healthcare institution to investigate and take the required actions.…”

“…The next work (Health Watcher) [19], [36] goes beyond refactoring of exception handling including concerns such as data persistence, concurrency and distribution (basic remote access to system services using Java RMI). Both the OO and AO designs of the Health Watcher system were developed with modularity and changeability principles as main driving design criteria.…”

Design patterns as aspects: a quantitative assessment

“…Soares et al [20] have reported their experience using AspectJ to implement distribution and persistence aspects in a web-based information system. They have implemented the system in Java and restructured it with AspectJ.…”

Chemical foundations of distributed aspects

“…In all these cases however, AOP systems do not support the remote definition or application of aspects. Rather, non-distributed aspects are used to manipulate distributed infrastructures [49].…”