JAC: an aspect‐based distributed dynamic framework

In this paper, we present the Java Aspect Components (JAC) framework for building aspect‐oriented distributed applications in Java. This paper describes the aspect‐oriented programming model and the architectural details of the framework implementation. The framework enables extension of application semantics for handling well‐separated concerns. This is achieved with a software entity called an aspect component (AC). ACs provide distributed pointcuts, dynamic wrappers and metamodel annotations. Distributed pointcuts are a key feature of our framework. They enable the definition of crosscutting structures that do not need to be located on a single host. ACs are dynamic. They can be added, removed, and controlled at runtime. This enables our framework to be used in highly dynamic environments where adaptable software is needed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From a domain analysis to the specification and detection of code and design smells

Code and design smells are recurring design problems in software systems that must be identified to avoid their possible negative consequences on development and maintenance. Consequently, several smell detection approaches and tools have been proposed in the literature. However, so far, they allow the detection of predefined smells but the detection of new smells or smells adapted to the context of the analysed systems is possible only by implementing new detection algorithms manually. Moreover, previous approaches do not explain the transition from specifications of smells to their detection. Finally, the validation of the existing approaches and tools has been limited on few proprietary systems and on a reduced number of smells. In this paper, we introduce an approach to automate the generation of detection algorithms from specifications written using a domain-specific language. This language is defined from a thorough domain analysis. It allows the specification of smells using high-level domain-related abstractions. It allows the adaptation of the specifications of smells to the context of the analysed systems. We specify 10 smells, generate automatically their detection algorithms using templates, and validate the algorithms in terms of precision and recall on Xerces v2.7.0 and GanttProject v1.10.2, two open-source object-oriented systems. We also compare the detection results with those of a previous approach, iPlasma.     

DECOR: A Method for the Specification and Detection of Code and Design Smells

Code and design smells are poor solutions to recurring implementation and design problems. They may hinder the evolution of a system by making it hard for software engineers to carry out changes. We propose three contributions to the research field related to code and design smells: 1) Decor, a method that embodies and defines all the steps necessary for the specification and detection of code and design smells, 2) Detex, a detection technique that instantiates this method, and 3) an empirical validation in terms of precision and recall of Detex. The originality of Detex stems from the ability for software engineers to specify smells at a high level of abstraction using a consistent vocabulary and domain-specific language for automatically generating detection algorithms. Using Detex, we specify four well-known design smells: the antipatterns Blob, Functional Decomposition, Spaghetti Code, and Swiss Army Knife, and their 15 underlying code smells, and we automatically generate their detection algorithms. We apply and validate the detection algorithms in terms of precision and recall on Xerces v2.7.0, and discuss the precision of these algorithms on 11 open-source systems.