An Early Approach to Identify and Classify Crosscutting Concerns in Aspect-Oriented Requirement Engineering (AORE) for Better Software Modularity

n this era of science and technology, where dependability on computer based systems is increasing, the size of software code is also increasing due to diverse nature of user requirements. Large software systems must have understandable code and impact of change should also be known otherwise it would be quite reasonable to say that software is very complex. The software complexity can be minimized by increasing the modularity either by using Procedural languages or Object-oriented languages but Code-tangling and Code-scattering cannot be avoided entirely by these approaches. Code-tangling and code-scattering would ultimately result in poor-traceability and difficulty in software evolution. Requirement gathering is a key task for any project but for a successful completion of any project common functionality of all the modules should also be known which is called crosscutting concerns. Besides identification of crosscutting concerns, the classification of crosscutting concerns is also very important especially when software modularity is concerned. Without identification and classification of crosscutting concerns, software development process would be devastating and is simply wastage of both time and money. The better identification, classification and separation of crosscutting concerns mean better modularity of the software system thus results in enhanced software quality. Aspect-oriented software engineering is relatively a new software paradigm which actually deals with the crosscutting concerns to avoid code tangling and scattering for better software modularity. The purpose of this paper is to establish a roadmap for identifying and classifying crosscutting concerns for better software modularity to support Aspect-oriented software development approach. Index terms – Approach, Aspect-oriented, Classify, Code-tangling, Code-scattering, Crosscutting, Concerns, Engineering, Identify, Modularity, Requirements.