Visualizing early aspects with use case maps

  • Authors:

  • Gunter Mussbacher;Daniel Amyot;Michael Weiss

  • Affiliations:

  • SITE, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada;SITE, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada;School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Transactions on aspect-oriented software development III
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Once aspects have been identified during requirements engineering activities, the behavior, structure, and pointcut expressions of aspects need to be modeled unobtrusively at the requirements level, allowing the engineer to seamlessly focus either on the behavior and structure of the system without aspects or the combined behavior and structure. Furthermore, the modeling techniques for aspects should be the same as for the base system, ensuring that the engineer continues to work with familiar models. This paper describes how, with the help of Use Case Maps (UCMs), scenario-based aspects can be modeled at the requirements level unobtrusively and with the same techniques as for non-aspectual systems. Use Case Maps are a visual scenario notation under standardization by the International Telecommunication Union. With Use Case Maps, aspects as well as pointcut expressions are modeled in a visual way which is generally considered the preferred choice for models of a high level of abstraction.