Aspect-oriented code generation for integration of aspect orientation and model-driven engineering

Abstract

Software development can be improved from many perspectives by combining aspect orientation and model-driven engineering techniques. At a higher level, they can be integrated in two different ways: (1) by handling specifics of aspect orientation at modeling level and later generating object-oriented code, or (2) by transforming an aspect model directly into aspect-oriented code. The latter approach has been shown to have advantages over the former. Consequently, different aspect-oriented code generation approaches have appeared in literature. This paper comparatively evaluates some of those existing approaches, which are well-published and can be used in integration with model-driven engineering process. The results of this study indicate that in order to provide this integration, existing aspect code generation need to be improved from various perspectives. Moreover, these results also provide some insight into the prerequisites for a valuable integration of these approaches into a model-driven engineering process.