Aspect-Oriented Programming

Jun 10, 2021

 Programming paradigms
 Procedural programming
 Executing a set of commands in a given sequence
 Fortran, C, Cobol
 Functional programming
 Evaluating a function defined in terms of other functions
 Lisp, ML, OCaml
 Logic programming
 Proving a theorem by finding values for the free variables
 Prolog
 Object-oriented programming (OOP)
 Organizing a set of objects, each with its own set of responsibilities
 Smalltalk, Java, C++ (to some extent)
 Aspect-oriented programming (AOP)
 Executing code whenever a program shows certain behaviors
 AspectJ (a Java extension)
 Does not replace O-O programming, but rather complements it 2
 The problem
 Some programming tasks cannot be neatly encapsulated
in objects, but must be scattered throughout the code
 Examples:
 Logging (tracking program behavior to a file)
 Profiling (determining where a program spends its time)
 Tracing (determining what methods are called when)
 Session tracking, session expiration
 Special security management
 The result is crosscuting code--the necessary code “cuts
across” many different classes and methods

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 Example
 class Fraction {
int numerator;
int denominator;
...
public Fraction multiply(Fraction that) {
traceEnter("multiply", new Object[] {that});
Fraction result = new Fraction(
this.numerator * that.numerator,
this.denominator * that.denominator);
result = result.reduceToLowestTerms();
traceExit("multiply", result);
return result;
}  Now imagine similar code in
... every method you might want
} to trace
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 Consequences of crosscutting code
 Redundant code
 Same fragment of code in many places
 Difficult to reason about
 Non-explicit structure
 The big picture of the tangling isn’t clear
 Difficult to change
 Have to find all the code involved...
 ...and be sure to change it consistently
 ...and be sure not to break it by accident
 Inefficient when crosscuting code is not needed
Adapted from:
www.parc.xerox.com/research/csl/projects/ aspectj/downloads/PARC-Workshop-2002.ppt 5
 AspectJTM
 AspectJ is a small, well-integrated extension to Java
 Based on the 1997 PhD thesis by Christina Lopes, A
Language Framework for Distributed Programming
 AspectJ modularizes crosscutting concerns
 That is, code for one aspect of the program (such as tracing) is
collected together in one place
 The AspectJ compiler is free and open source
 AspectJ works with JBuilder, Forté, Eclipse, probably
others
 Best online writeup:
http://www.eclipse.org/aspectj/
 Parts of this lecture were taken from the above paper
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 Terminology
 A join point is a well-defined point in the program flow
 A pointcut is a group of join points
 Advice is code that is executed at a pointcut
 Introduction modifies the members of a class and the
relationships between classes
 An aspect is a module for handling crosscutting
concerns
 Aspects are defined in terms of pointcuts, advice, and
introduction
 Aspects are reusable and inheritable
 Each of these terms will be discussed in greater detail 7
The Figure Element example

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 Example I
 A pointcut named move that chooses various method calls:
 pointcut move():
call(void FigureElement.setXY(int,int)) ||
call(void Point.setX(int)) ||
call(void Point.setY(int)) ||
call(void Line.setP1(Point)) ||
call(void Line.setP2(Point));
 Advice (code) that runs before the move pointcut:
 before(): move() {
System.out.println("About to move");
}
 Advice that runs after the move pointcut:
 after(): move() {
System.out.println("Just successfully moved");
}
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 Join points
 A join point is a well-defined point in the program flow
 We want to execute some code (“advice”) each time a join
point is reached
 We do not want to clutter up the code with explicit indicators
saying “This is a join point”
 AspectJ provides a syntax for indicating these join points
“from outside” the actual code
 A join point is a point in the program flow “where
something happens”
 Examples:
 When a method is called
 When an exception is thrown
 When a variable is accessed
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 Pointcuts
 Pointcut definitions consist of a left-hand side and a
right-hand side, separated by a colon
 The left-hand side consists of the pointcut name and the
pointcut parameters (i.e. the data available when the events
happen)
 The right-hand side consists of the pointcut itself
 Example pointcut:
pointcut setter(): call(void setX(int));
 The name of this pointcut is setter
 The pointcut has no parameters
 The pointcut itself is call(void setX(int))
 The pointcut refers to any time the void setX(int) method is
called
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 Example pointcut designators I
 When a particular method body executes:
 execution(void Point.setX(int))

 When a method is called:

 call(void Point.setX(int))

 When an exception handler executes:

 handler(ArrayOutOfBoundsException)

 When the object currently executing (i.e. this) is of

type SomeType:
 this(SomeType)
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 Example pointcut designators II
 When the target object is of type SomeType
 target(SomeType)

 When the executing code belongs to class MyClass

 within(MyClass)

 When the join point is in the control flow of a call to a

Test's no-argument main method
 cflow(call(void Test.main()))

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 Pointcut designator wildcards
 It is possible to use wildcards to declare
pointcuts:
 execution(* *(..))
 Chooses the execution of any method regardless of return
or parameter types
 call(* set(..))
 Chooses the call to any method named set regardless of
return or parameter type
 In case of overloading there may be more than one such
set method; this pointcut picks out calls to all of them

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 Pointcut designators based on types
 You can select elements based on types. For example,
 execution(int *())
 Chooses the execution of any method with no parameters that returns
an int
 call(* setY(long))
 Chooses the call to any setY method that takes a long as an argument,
regardless of return type or declaring type
 call(* Point.setY(int))
 Chooses the call to any of Point’s setY methods that take an int as an
argument, regardless of return type
 call(*.new(int, int))
 Chooses the call to any classes’ constructor, so long as it takes exactly
two ints as arguments
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 Pointcut designator composition
 Pointcuts compose through the operations or (“||”), and (“&&”)
and not (“!”)
 Examples:
 target(Point) && call(int *())
 Chooses any call to an int method with no arguments on an instance of Point,
regardless of its name
 call(* *(..)) && (within(Line) || within(Point))
 Chooses any call to any method where the call is made from the code in
Point’s or Line’s type declaration
 within(*) && execution(*.new(int))
 Chooses the execution of any constructor taking exactly one int argument,
regardless of where the call is made from
 !this(Point) && call(int *(..))
 Chooses any method call to an int method when the executing object is any
type except Point
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 Pointcut designators based on modifiers
 call(public * *(..))
 Chooses any call to a public method
 execution(!static * *(..))
 Chooses any execution of a non-static method
 execution(public !static * *(..))
 Chooses any execution of a public, non-static method

 Pointcut designators can be based on interfaces as well

as on classes

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 Example I, repeated
 A pointcut named move that chooses various method calls:
 pointcut move():
call(void FigureElement.setXY(int,int)) ||
call(void Point.setX(int)) ||
call(void Point.setY(int)) ||
call(void Line.setP1(Point)) ||
call(void Line.setP2(Point));
 Advice (code) that runs before the move pointcut:
 before(): move() {
System.out.println("About to move");
}
 Advice that runs after the move pointcut:
 after(): move() {
System.out.println("Just successfully moved");
}
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 Kinds of advice
 AspectJ has several kinds of advice; here are some of
them:
 Before advice runs as a join point is reached, before the
program proceeds with the join point
 After advice on a particular join point runs after the program
proceeds with that join point
 after returning advice is executed after a method returns normally
 after throwing advice is executed after a method returns by throwing
an exception
 after advice is executed after a method returns, regardless of whether it
returns normally or by throwing an exception
 Around advice on a join point runs as the join point is
reached, and has explicit control over whether the program
proceeds with the join point
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 Example II, with parameters
 You can access the context of the join point:

 pointcut setXY(FigureElement fe, int x, int y):

call(void FigureElement.setXY(int, int))
&& target(fe)
&& args(x, y);

 after(FigureElement fe, int x, int y) returning: setXY(fe, x, y) {

System.out.println(fe + " moved to (" + x + ", " + y + ").");
}

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 Introduction
 An introduction is a member of an aspect, but it defines
or modifies a member of another type (class). With
introduction we can
 add methods to an existing class
 add fields to an existing class
 extend an existing class with another
 implement an interface in an existing class
 convert checked exceptions into unchecked exceptions

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 Example introduction
 aspect CloneablePoint {

declare parents: Point implements Cloneable;

declare soft: CloneNotSupportedException:

execution(Object clone());

Object Point.clone() { return super.clone(); }

}

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 Approximate syntax
 An aspect is: aspect nameOfAspect { body }
 An aspect contains introductions, pointcuts, and advice

 A pointcut designator is: when(signature)

 The signature includes the return type
 The “when” is call, handler, execution, etc.

 A named pointcut designator is:

name(parameters): pointcutDesignator

 Advice is:
adviceType(parameters): pointcutDesignator { body }

 Introductions are basically like normal Java code

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 Example aspect I
 aspect PointWatching {

private Vector Point.watchers = new Vector();

public static void addWatcher(Point p, Screen s) {

p.Watchers.add(s);
}

public static void removeWatcher(Point p, Screen s) {

p.Watchers.remove(s);
}

static void updateWatcher(Point p, Screen s) {

s.display(p);
}
// continued on next slide 24
 Example aspect II
 // continued from previous slide

pointcut changes(Point p): target(p) && call(void Point.set*(int));

after(Point p): changes(p) {

Iterator iter = p.Watchers.iterator();
while ( iter.hasNext() ) {
updateWatcher(p, (Screen)iter.next());
}
}
}

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 Concluding remarks
 Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a new paradigm--a new
way to think about programming
 AOP is somewhat similar to event handling, where the “events”
are defined outside the code itself
 AspectJ is not itself a complete programming language, but an
adjunct to Java
 AspectJ does not add new capabilities to what Java can do, but
adds new ways of modularizing the code
 AspectJ is free, open source software
 Like all new technologies, AOP may--or may not--catch on in a
big way

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The End

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