Aspects across Software Life Cycle: A Goal-Driven Approach

Goal modeling fits model-driven engineering (MDE) in that it captures stakeholder concerns and the interdependencies using concepts that are much less bound to the underlying implementation technology and are much closer to the problem languages. Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) provides language constructs to facilitate the representation of multiple perceptions and to alleviate tangling and scattering concerns. Synthesis of AOSD and MDE not only manages software complexity but also improves productivity, as well as model quality and longevity. In this paper, we propose a model-driven framework for tracing aspects from requirements to implementation and testing, where goal models become engineering assets and straightforward model-to-code transformation bridges the gap between domain concepts and implementation technologies. We test our hypotheses and evaluate the framework's applicability and usefulness with a case study of an open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP.