Extending Design by Contract for Aspect-Oriented Programming

TL;DR

This paper extends Design by Contract to Aspect-Oriented Programming, addressing runtime assertion enforcement and blame assignment challenges by classifying aspects and implementing a prototype tool.

Contribution

It introduces a classification of aspects for correct assertion validation order and presents Cona, a prototype tool integrating DbC with AOP.

Findings

No universal correct order for assertion validation in AOP

Classification of aspects guides assertion validation order

Prototype tool Cona demonstrates practical application

Abstract

Design by Contract (DbC) and runtime enforcement of program assertions enables the construction of more robust software. It also enables the assignment of blame in error reporting. Unfortunately, there is no support for runtime contract enforcement and blame assignment for Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP). Extending DbC to also cover aspects brings forward a plethora of issues related to the correct order of assertion validation. We show that there is no generally correct execution sequence of object assertions and aspect assertions. A further classification of aspects as agnostic, obedient, or rebellious defines the order of assertion validation that needs to be followed. We describe the application of this classification in a prototyped DbC tool for AOP named Cona, where aspects are used for implementing contracts, and contracts are used for enforcing assertions on aspects.