[aosd-discuss] user interfaces

[Mike Mortensen]

I haven't used AOP for UIs, but three thoughts came to mind when I saw 
your question.
First, a UI-oriented example -- but which some have also questioned -- 
is using aspects
for updating the display in a simple system with points, lines, etc.  
See this thread for
some examples:
    http://aosd.net/pipermail/discuss_aosd.net/2004-December/001250.html

Secondly, although this doesn't directly answer your question, there 
does seem
to be a lot more written about OO and user interfaces than AOP and 
interfaces.
In fact, Bill Burke talks about this, observing:
   In the early days of object-oriented programming, it was 
user-interface applications that helped
   to scope and discover object-oriented patterns and techniques. If you 
look at the Gang of Four's /
   Design Patterns/ book (the bible of object-oriented programming), 
you'll see that GUIs are used
   in many of the coding examples that describe the patterns in the 
book. As GUIs helped formulate
   the early patterns of OO, middleware is shaping up to be the killer 
app for aspect-oriented programming.
This is from an article in the Java Developer's Journal (see 
http://java.sys-con.com/read/38104.htm).
Of course, Bill works in the middleware space :-) ...but it seems that 
in both academia and industry
adoption middleware has been a very active space...

Third, several people have explored using aspects with object-oriented 
frameworks.
Santos, Lopes, and Koskimies talked about "Framework Specialization 
Aspects" at AOSD 2007 
(http://aosd.net/2007/program/research/index.php#abstract12)
and Stefan Hanenberg has explored using AOP to design frameworks
(** http://www.info.uni-karlsruhe.de/~pulvermu/workshops/GCSE2000_Young_Research/papers/Stefan_Hanenberg/MultiDesignApplicationFrameworks.html)
My work is also explores AOP and frameworks 
(http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~mortense/).

Since most UIs these days are based on OO design and use OO frameworks 
(such as the Java UI classes or Qt in C++),
these UI frameworks could be either redesigned with AOP or aspects could 
be created to support/enhance
them.

-Mike

>Hi,
>
>I've been looking for information on the use of AOP for coupling a  
>user interface with its model (or application). So far I haven't  
>found anything beyond the observer pattern implementation with  
>aspects. Therefore I am addressing this question to this list, and  
>its many experts in AOSD. Has anyone of you encountered anything with  
>respect to user interfaces and aosd?
>
>cheers,
>Sofie
>
>
>
>
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