An Empirical Evaluation of Refactoring Crosscutting Concerns into Aspects Using Software Metrics

Code scattering and code tangling affect software development in many ways, including poor traceability of requirements, low productivity, poor overall quality and increased efforts for software maintenance. One proposed solution to solve these issues is to use a specific software construction known as aspect. Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) has been widely studied since its introduction with the promise of improving modularization by addressing crosscutting concerns. Few studies on empirical evaluation of the benefits of aspect-oriented paradigm were published. Results presented in these studies are frequently subjective, and some studies are non-conclusive. In addition, these studies are based on the implementation of only one or two crosscutting concerns into aspects, and the evaluation is based on few software metrics. In this article, the evaluation of AOP implementation through software metrics is proposed. The main idea is to implement crosscutting concerns as aspects, with focus on those that were not given properly attention in the literature. Two softwares were used as case studies.