Aspect-Oriented Programming: Radical Research In Modularity

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Presented at 15th USENIX Security Symposium 2006 by

Gregor Kiczales

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is based on a radical exploration of modularity in software development. By presenting new mechanisms that enable better modularization in a number of systems, AOP is driving us to ask fundamental questions about what modularity should mean in our field. In the past, we have tended to think of modularity in terms of hierarchies of crisply defined blocks, where each block or module defines its interface with the surrounding modules. This idea seems attractive but experience tells us that it is hard to actually get the modularity of the software we build just right. Some issues are hard to code (or design) in a single module, others just don't seem to want to stay where you put them. Work in AOP and other areas suggests a different conception of modularity, based on crosscutting structures and a more fluid notion of module boundaries. The talk will present existing AOP techniques and the problems they solve, as well as open practical and research problems ranging from mechanisms to applications, theoretical formulations, and conceptual foundations.