RE: [isml] Making HAL Your Pal (fwd)

From: xgl (xli03@emory.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 27 2001 - 10:25:17 MDT


        as long as we're talking about programming practices, i thought
i'd throw up an interesting link:
                                                                               
        http://www.parc.xerox.com/csl/projects/aop/
                                                                               
the appended text is from the site.
                                                                               
                                                                               
-x
                                                                               
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Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a new programming methodology that
enables the modularization of crosscutting concerns. Experience has shown
that using standard procedural or object-oriented programming languages it
can be difficult to modularize design concerns such as:

     error-checking strategies
     design patterns
     synchronization policies
     resource sharing
     distribution concerns
     performance optimizations

The reason is that these kinds of concerns inherently tend to affect
multiple modules -- synchronization is often between modules, similarly
error-checking policy has to employ system-wide polices. Because of the
way they cross module boundaries we say they crosscut the program
structure.

Aspects are a new unit of software modularity that cleanly encapsulate
crosscutting concerns. AOP facilitates working with aspects by providing
explicit mechanisms for programming first-class crosscutting modularities.
Aspects make the structure of the crosscutting concerns more clear and
easy to reason about. They also make the interaction between the
crosscutting concerns and the primary modularity clear.



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