A.: Aspect.NET – aspect-oriented toolkit for Microsoft.NET based on Phoenix and Whidbey

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) methodology is evolving from research projects towards commercial applications. Most of the existing AOP tools suitable for commercial projects are intended for Java platform only which limits their applicability. Known AOP tools for Microsoft.NET such as Aspect#, Loom.NET, etc. are still at experimental stage. Most of them lack flexibility and comfortable user interface. Aspect.NET, our AOP framework for Microsoft.NET, offers a new approach taking the best of Microsoft.NET specifics. Aspect.NET allows to define aspects using any language implemented for.NET that supports the concept of attribute. For aspect specification, we developed very simple and compact language-agnostic AOP meta-language- Aspect.NET.ML. At the source code layer, aspect definition in Aspect.NET looks like the code of a compilation unit annotated by Aspect.NET.ML constructs. The AOP annotations are converted into specific AOP custom attributes used by the Aspect.NET tool. Thus, an aspect assembly keeps all necessary information for aspect weaving whose result is represented as an augmented assembly. Aspect.NET implementation is based on Microsoft Phoenix – state-of-the-art multi-targeted optimizing infrastructure for developing compilers and other language tools, in particular, comfortable for creating and editing.NET assemblies. The weaver uses Phoenix IR for scanning target applications and weaving aspects. Aspect.NET Framework (GUI and aspect editor) is implemented as add-in to Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2005 (Whidbey) and is seamlessly integrated into it. Important features of Aspect.NET Framework are: visualization of join points at source code layer, and user-controlled filtering potential join points before weaving