Design Patterns: A Canonical Test of Unified Aspect Model

In earlier work, we showed that the AspectJ notions of aspect and class can be unified in a new module construct that we called the classpect, and that this new model is simpler and able to accommodate a broader set of requirements for modular solutions to complex integration problems. We embodied our unified model in the Eos language design. The main contribution of this work is an analysis of the design structuring benefits, the usability, and the practical utility of the Eos language beyond integration problems. To that end, we present a comparative analysis of the implementations of the Gang-of-Four design pattern in AspectJ and Eos. Our result shows that the Eos implementation is better in 7 out of 23 design patterns, and no worse in case of other 16 patterns. The design structures realized in the Eos implementation turned out to be better then the AspectJ version, presenting supporting evidence for the potential benefits of the unified model.