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Introduction

Assuming aspect-oriented programming (AOP) will evolve similarly to object-oriented programming (OOP), it is worthwhile to examine from a twenty years perspective the milestones in OOP development. Extrapolating their corresponding turning points in AOP might help in avoiding obstacles on one hand, and making the right decisions on the other hand.

One evident breakthrough worth imitating is the emergence of design patterns [1]. In the absence of linguistic support for AOP, aspect-oriented patterns can provide the novice with simple and elegant aspect oriented solutions to specific tangling problems . In fact, a few of the specific concerns raised in last year's workshop are actually quests for aspect-oriented patterns.

We make the observation that the VISITOR [1] not only describes an object-oriented pattern, but and perhaps even more importantly, it describes an aspect-oriented pattern. As an aspect-oriented pattern it stands up to the known-uses measure: there are (at least two) real aspect-oriented related applications, that apply the VISITOR pattern successfully for achieving unweaving of aspects.



David H. Lorenz
9/29/1998