Classification of refactoring methods for Aspect Oriented Programming based on software quality attributes

Abstract

Refactoring improves software quality by improving the design of existing code through changing its internal structure while preserving its behavior. Improving one quality attribute may affect negatively other quality attributes. A number of refactoring methods were proposed specifically for Aspect-Oriented systems. Aspect-oriented techniques are emerging to cope with the challenges of current software development and to address shortcomings of existing paradigms such as object-oriented and component-based software engineering. However, there are no guidelines to help Aspect-Oriented software designer decide which refactoring methods to apply in order to optimize a software system with regard to certain design goals. In this thesis, we propose a classification of refactoring methods for Aspect-Oriented systems based on their measurable effect on software quality attributes and then we empirically validate this classification using software applications.