Aspect-Oriented Design Rules

Aspect-oriented design rules are DesignRules which are specifically related to or caused by the introduction of aspect-oriented language features into a programming environment.

As is the case always when new language features are introduced that allow the developer new and different ways to structure programs, this opens up new and better ways to express certain things. As a result some coding idioms that were considered acceptable in the pre-AO environment become deprecated because better alternatives are now available.

We belief that AO specific design rules can be a useful tool in this context, in the following ways:

• Carefully formulated desing rules can help to automatically find oportunities to apply aspects to legacy software systems.

• Automatically verifiable design rules can be used to crystalize seasoned AO programmer's experience in form that helps novice AO programmers avoid common errors.

-- KrisDeVolder - 11 May 2005