Conservative aspect-orientated programming with the e language
Matan Vax · 2007
e is a programming language designed for modeling and verification of electronic systems. As such it is used extensively in the microchip industry, and was recently declared an IEEE standard, e is also a powerful general-purpose language used in the implementation of complex commercial software tools.It was suggested some time ago that a number of idioms in e resemble those of AOP, but the suggestion was never examined in depth. The present paper takes up this task. For this purpose the relevant mechanisms in e are compared with those of today's prominent aspect-oriented language - AspectJ - with respect to syntax, semantics, and application.e's aspect-oriented capabilities turn out to be a small subset of AspectJ's, but an interesting one. It is weaker in its support for implementing developmental and non-functional concerns. However, with its simpler syntax and economical semantics, e captures in a natural way crosscutting concerns that stem from the application domain. Thus, e seems to exemplify an original variant of AOP - one that is conservative and robust from a software design point of view.