An interface mechanism for encapsulating weaving in class-based AOP

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) separates crosscutting concerns from primary concerns. These concerns are woven together by a weaver. Although AOP provides a good module mechanism, it is not necessarily easy for a programmer to understand the overall behavior of a woven program. To deal with this problem, we propose a new kind of information hiding mechanism called weavinginterface that encapsulates weaving in class-based AOP in which all kinds of concerns are described in classes. Weaving-interfaces are completely separated from concerns described as classes. A programmer who designs how to compose concerns does not have to know the detail of class definitions, but has only to be aware of weaving-interfaces. On the other hand, a programmer who designs each concern does not have to know how to be composed, but has only to be aware of weaving-interfaces.