Designing and weaving Aspect-Oriented executable UML models

Abstract

Aspect-Oriented technologies, including Aspect-Oriented Modelling, provide a set of new constructs (e.g., advices or pointcuts), that help to improve the modularisation of crosscutting concerns. However, these new constructions can make it more difficult to understand how a system works as a whole, once all design modules are composed together, because: (1) designers may not be familiar with the new aspect-oriented constructions; and/or (2) aspect-orientation may cause new problems, such as the handling of aspect interactions. A straightforward and simple solution to check how a system works is to execute it. UML and its Action Semantics provide the foundations for modelling and executing object-oriented software systems. This paper presents a UML 2.0 Profile which extends the UML and its Action Semantics for the construction of aspect-oriented executable models and also a model weaver which makes the execution of such models possible. Our approach is illustrated using an Online Book Store system taken from the literature. © JOT, 2004.