Gary Allen

Aspect-Oriented Modeling: Issues and Misconceptions

Aspect-oriented programming is an extension to object-oriented programming. It introduces new constructs called “aspects” for representing crosscutting concerns in a system development. These constructs are somewhat similar to object-oriented “classes” but they also have some clear differences in terms of characteristics. This complicated nature of aspects makes their modeling a difficult task. While working on the modeling of new design techniques for aspect-oriented technology, we have come across some unresolved modeling issues and some misconceptions about the nature of aspects and their representation in software design. This paper highlights these misconceptions and outlines some important aspect-oriented modeling issues, such as the modular nature of aspects, their resemblance with classes, and their high coupling with the base program.

Representing Aspects in Design

Aspect-Oriented Programming is providing a new way of handling cross-cutting concerns (also known as Aspects) in a modularized way. A number of languages, such as AspectJ, Spring, and AspectWorkz, have been developed to weave modularized Aspects with the base program. Similarly a lot of research has been conducted to improve the composition of Aspect models with the primary model. Although these suggested approaches have improved the implementation of Aspect, this paradigm is still lacking Aspect representation in the earlier phases of software development. Our proposed Aspect model addresses this problem and suggests a process-modeling approach for identifying and representing Aspects throughout the life cycle of system development.

Open-VSeSeMe: A Middleware for Efficient Vehicular Sensor Processing

The recent increase in the number of sensors within cars has resulted in various fragmented software stacks and development frameworks. In this ecosystem, applications have to make sense of raw sensor data themselves. As a remedial solution, we present Open-VSeSeMe, a middleware atop TinyOS that converts raw sensor streams into data units with semantic meaning. These data units can be shared between applications leading to efficient use of resources. In addition, we argue that the use of a common software stack leads to hardware standardization and opens up the platform to third-party developers, making a Car App Store possible. Furthermore, the entire architecture is event-driven which frees the applications from the clutches of constant polling. Finally, using a number of illustrative examples we show the utility and usefulness of Open-VSeSeMe.

The Enterprise Showcase Experience

The School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Huddersfield have, for the last 2 years, been experimenting with an Enterprise Showcase Event, in which multidisciplinary teams of students work intensively on real-world projects for local companies, and then present their work at a day long trade-show style event. This paper outlines the rationale for the project, explains how the event operates, discusses the advantages of the approach over more traditional kinds of team project, and analyses the student feedback.