Mining execution relations for crosscutting concerns

Aspect mining tries to identify crosscutting concerns in the code of existing systems and thus supports their adaption to an aspect-oriented design. A semi-automatic static aspect mining approach is described, where the program’s control flow graphs are investigated for recurring execution patterns based on different constraints, such as the requirement that the patterns have to exist in different calling contexts. Two case studies done with the implemented tool show that many discovered candidates for crosscutting concerns are instances of delegation and should not be refactored into aspects. More generally, it is shown that aspect mining techniques need a way to distinguish between delegation and superimposed behaviour.