Extensions of UML to Model Aspect-oriented Software Systems

Abstract

Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) has arisen as a new technology to support a better SoC (Separation of Concerns), intending to contribute to the development of reusable, maintainable, and evolvable software sys- tems. Aspects have been also explored in the early life cycle phases, aiming at contributing to a more adequate development of aspect-oriented software systems. In this perspective, in order to better represent these sys- tems, a diversity of extensions of the UML (Unified Modeling Language) has been proposed; however, there is a lack of a complete panorama that identify all these extensions. This paper presents an overview about which are possibly all extensions of the UML to represent aspect-oriented software systems. For this, we have used a technique proposed by Evidence-Based Software Engineering (EBSE): the Systematic Mapping. As achieved results, we can observe a diversity of work; however, there is not a consensus about which are the more adequate or more used extensions. Based on this overview, interesting and important perspectives for future research can also be found.