Aspect-Oriented Programming to Improve Modularity of Object-Oriented Applications

The separation of concerns design principle improves software reutilization, understandability, extensibility and maintainability. By using the object- oriented paradigm, it is not always possible to separate into independent modules the different concerns of an application. The result is that the source code of crosscutting concerns are tangled and scattered across the whole application. Aspect-oriented programming offers a higher level of modularity, providing a solution for the code tangling and scattering problem. To show how aspect- oriented programming can be used as a suitable mechanism to improve the modularity of object-oriented applications, this divulgative article presents the implementation of a typical design pattern following both the object- and aspect- oriented paradigms. The two approaches are compared from the modularity perspective, establishing a discussion on the benefits provided and is current use.

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