Abstract

Abstract
Usually, Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) languages are an extension of a specific target programming language (e.g., Aspect J for JAVA and Aspect C++ for C++). Although providing AOP support with target language extensions may ease the adoption of an approach, it may impose constraints related with constructs and semantics. Furthermore, by tightly coupling the AOP language to the target language the reuse potential of many aspects, especially the ones regarding non-functional requirements, is lost. LARA is a domain-specific language inspired by AOP concepts, having the specification of source-to-source transformations as one of its main goals. LARA has been designed to be, as much as possible, independent of the target language and to provide constructs and semantics that ease the definition of concerns, especially related to non-functional requirements. In this paper, we propose techniques to overcome some of the challenges presented by a multilanguage approach to AOP of cross-cutting concerns focused on non-functional requirements and applied through the use of a weaving process. The techniques mainly focus on providing well-defined library interfaces that can have concrete implementations for each supported target language. The developer uses an agnostic interface and the weaver provides a specific implementation for the target language. We evaluate our approach using 8 concerns with varying levels of language agnosticism that support 4 target languages (C, C++, JAVA and MATLAB) and show that the proposed techniques contribute to more concise LARA aspects, high reuse of aspects, and to significant effort reductions when developing weavers for new imperative, object-oriented programming languages.

Abstract
The very nature of universities makes them unique environments for research and teaching. Although both activities constantly borrow from each other, a deeper level of interaction is not always achieved for several reasons. This paper presents a successful experience on conducting an undergraduate course on embedded systems, based on strong interaction with related research activities previously conducted by the authors. Known for being everywhere, embedded systems are constantly expanding in both complexity and volume production. In addition, heterogeneous systems are becoming prevalent in modern applications, standing as an additional difficulty to students in this area. In this context, this paper presents experiences in teaching embedded systems using a project-based learning pedagogical approach, with strong emphasis on mobile robotic applications previously developed by MSc and PhD students. As a result, it has been observed that undergraduate students have the opportunity to build a strong background and feel better prepared to face the challenges to be found in their future professional activities. © 2014 Vanderlei Bonato et al.

Abstract
Source-to-source weaving is a key mechanism in the REFLECT design-flow since it allows the inclusion of application-specific information in the transformed program. In particular, LARA [1, 2] aspects are used to control the design-flow, and to trigger source-to-source code transformations and compilation/synthesis optimizations on a given application. Hence, user knowledge about an application and/or target architecture can be codified as aspects, allowing the original application code to be automatically extended to satisfy non-functional concerns, such as arithmetic precision and performance. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013. All rights are reserved.

Abstract

Abstract