Aspect-Oriented Software Development

As software systems become increasingly large, complex and distributed, the separation of concerns principle - dealing with one system concern at a time - becomes equally essential. However, traditional development techniques, e.g., object-oriented ones, cannot effectively modularise concerns such as persistence, distribution, security, real-time behaviour, etc. Such broadly scoped concerns that cut across various parts of the system, and often overlap, can severely constrain quality and add to complexity if they are not effectively modularised. Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) supports systematic identification, modularisation, representation and composition of such crosscutting concerns. AOSD techniques are gaining increasing popularity with interest from major players such as IBM, Siemens and NASA. This course will focus on the current state-of-the-art in AOSD and its applications.

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, students will have:

an understanding of the challenges faced when handling crosscutting concerns during software development;
knowledge of state-of-the-art in AOSD rooted in case studies and applications;
practical experience of developing software using AOSD tools and techniques

Syllabus

The course will cover a range of topics, including:

Aspect-oriented requirements engineering;
Aspect-oriented modelling and design with UML
Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) techniques:
- AspectJ (main programming language to be used)
- Composition Filters
- Dynamic AOP frameworks such as JAC, JBoss and AspectWerkz
- Multi-dimensional and hybrid models
Aspect-oriented databases
Variability and evolution support, including suitability to software product lines
Case studies and applications of AOSD techniques.

Assessment

Assessment is completely coursework-based using individual project and group work.

Dates and Details

Lecturers: Prof Awais Rashid and Dr Steffen Zschaler.

Aspect-Oriented Software Development