[aosd-discuss] design patterns

[suttonsm at verizonesg.net]

This is a response to a recent posting by Pascal Costanza (which was a 
response to still other postings, which I've omitted for the sake of 
brevity).  He begins by saying:

> I think the key to understanding the relationship between patterns and 
> language extensions (including, but not limited to AOP) is the concept 
> of forces.
>
> A good introduction of the term "force" can be found at 
> 
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/patterns-intro.html#PatternElements 

> (also follow the link mentioned there).
>
> A pattern resolves a recurring set of forces. Some of those forces 
> result directly from the problem that a pattern solves. However, more 
> often than not, a pattern also involves forces that result from the 
> design of the language that is used to express the solution.

I generally agree and think this is a good statement of the (challenging) 
context to be analyzed in this area.

As a "concerned citizen", I would just like to point out that from an AOSD 
perspective we may say that these "forces" represent concerns. Languages 
address a set of linguistic concerns in a particular way, and patterns 
provide mechanisms for addressing additional concerns and resolving 
concern mismatches between an application language and particular 
applications.

We may argue over terminology if we enjoy that :-), but there is a 
practical implication of the concern-oriented view of languages and 
patterns.  That is, we can build integrated concern models of languages, 
patterns, applications, application domains, and so on (for example, using 
Cosmos or something like that).  Those models, in turn, can enable uniform 
and comprehensive analysis of both our problems and solutions, 
individually and in combination.  Knowledge is power, and the resulting 
knowledge of our software systems would empower us to work more 
effectively in many different ways.

Regards,

Stan Sutton
suttonsm at verizonesg.net





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