Generating AspectJ Programs with Meta-AspectJ

Abstract. Meta-AspectJ (MAJ) is a language tool for generating AspectJ programs using code templates. MAJ itself is an extension of Java, so users can interleave arbitrary Java code with AspectJ code templates. MAJ is a structured meta-programming tool: a well-typed generator implies a syntactically correct generated program. MAJ promotes a methodology that combines aspect-oriented and generative programming. Potential applications range from implementing domain-specific languages with AspectJ as a back-end to enhancing AspectJ with more powerful general-purpose constructs. In addition to its practical value, MAJ offers valuable insights to meta-programming tool designers. It is a mature meta-programming tool for AspectJ (and, by extension, Java): a lot of emphasis has been placed on context-sensitive parsing and errorreporting. As a result, MAJ minimizes the number of meta-programming (quote/unquote) operators and uses type inference to reduce the need to remember type names for syn...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: GPCE
• Authors: David Zook, Shan Shan Huang, Yannis Smaragdakis
• Keywords: AspectJ, AspectJ Code Templates, GPCE 2004, Meta-programming Tool