Modular Program Transformations for Aspect-Oriented Constructs

Dyer, Robert and Rajan, Hridesh (2006) Modular Program Transformations for Aspect-Oriented Constructs. Technical Report, Computer Science, Iowa State University.

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Abstract

This work describes a language design experiment in the context of aspect-oriented programming. The core idea was to develop a transformation from high-level language as expressive as AspectJ to a low-level language model, one construct at a time. The key requirement was for these transformations to be modular. The low-level language used was a simple aspect language model, named Nu that is based on two primitives bind and remove. Our results show simple modular transformations for a number of control flow, instantiation, and dynamic check constructs and composition operators. Contemporary compilers implement some of these constructs using non-modular code generation techniques. Our results thus have an immediate impact on incremental compilation of aspect-oriented programs in that these modular transformations promise to decrease the impact of change for these constructs.

Available Versions of This Paper

• Modular Program Transformations for Aspect-Oriented Constructs (deposited 16 July 2006) [Currently displayed]
  • Modular Compilation Strategies for Aspect-Oriented Constructs (deposited 12 December 2006)