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Volume 16 Supplement 2

Global Software Engineering

On the benefits of quantification in AspectJ systems

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that the most favorable uses of aspects happen when their code relies extensively on quantified statements, i.e., statements that may affect many parts of a system. When this happens, aspects better contribute to separation of concerns, since the otherwise duplicated and tangled code related to the implementation of a crosscutting concern is confined in a single block of code. We provide in the paper both qualitative and quantitative arguments in favor of quantification. We also propose two new metrics to capture in a simple way the amount of quantification employed in the aspects of a given system. Finally, we describe an Eclipse plugin, called ConcernMetrics that estimates the proposed metrics directly from the object-oriented code of an existing system, i.e., before crosscutting concerns are extracted to aspects. Our main motivation is to help developers and maintainers to decide in a cost-effective way if it is worthwhile to use aspects in their systems.

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Correspondence to Marco Tulio Valente.

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Valente, M.T., Couto, C., Faria, J. et al. On the benefits of quantification in AspectJ systems. J Braz Comput Soc 16, 133–146 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13173-010-0008-0

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