org.aspectj/docs/developer/modules.adoc

= AspectJ Modules

There are a number of different structures [Parnas]: "the module structure, the uses structure, the runtime structure,
..." This document overviews module structure and summarizes what is hidden by each. For detailed documentation refer to
the individual module sources and docs available via CVS.

== Core Modules

*CVS Location:* dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/modules

To set up for building, one need only check out the module directories within the `modules/` directory. In Eclipse,
check out each module into the workspace as a project. (Note: module dependencies may change at any time, so this
documentation might be out of date. The Eclipse .classpath files specify the module dependencies, even when using Ant to
build outside of Eclipse.)

|===
| *Module* | *Dependencies* | *Description*

| ajde | asm, bridge, org.aspectj.ajdt.core, org.eclipse.jdt.core, util | Hides the details of accessing the AspectJ
compiler and interpreting compilation results (error messages, structure model, etc.) from other applications (typically
IDEs) that need to invoke it programmatically. Changing any public interface in ajde can break all the IDE integration
projects and should be done with care. +
 +
It also contains a library of common swing user interface components that can be used by any swing based IDE. The
non-eclipse IDE integration projects use this library (except for the emacs support).

| asm | bridge | Contains the Abstract Structure Model, which represents the result of an aspectj compilation. Clients
of ajde are returned an instance of the structure model which allows them to navigate and interpret the static structure
of an aspectj program.

| bridge | util | Contains an interface and implementation of classes realted to compiler messages including: source
locations, handling, and formatting. Intended to minimize dependencies between testing, the compiler, and
ajde.

| org.aspectj.ajdt.core | asm, bridge, org.eclipse.jdt.core, runtime, testing-util, util, weaver | Front-end of the
AspectJ compiler and extension of Eclipse's JDT compiler. Extends the JDT compiler's parsing and name resolution to
understand AspectJ declarations.  Also extends incremental behavior with understanding of AspectJ dependencies.

| org.eclipse.jdt.core | | The Eclipse JDT compiler, slightly patched for AspectJ and stored in binary form to avoid
accidental changes. Sources are available in CVS at dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/shadows.

| runtime | | Small runtime library required for building and running AspectJ programs

| taskdefs | bridge, org.aspectj.ajdt.core, util | Ant taskdef for the AspectJ compiler/weaver, ajc.

| util | | Common utility classes including data type, file, and stream manipulation

| weaver | asm, bridge, runtime, testing-util, util | Back-end of the AspectJ compiler, built on top of the BCEL
bytecode toolkit. All advice planning and weaving is done here. Takes an aspect bytecode format and other Java
classfiles as input.
|===

== Supporting Modules

*CVS Location:* dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/modules

|===
| *Module* | *Description*
| build | Ant files, scripts, taskdefs required for building the AspectJ distribution. Also contains the GUI installer.
| docs | Programmer and developer documentation
| lib | Libraries required for building AspectJ
| testing | Test support classes
| testing-client | Client used for running the harness and reporting results
| testing-drivers | Testing harness drivers and support classes
| testing-util | Common testing utility classes used by the unit test suites in the core modules
| tests | AspectJ test suite, including all language tests, regression tests, and test system sources
|===

== Eclipse AspectJ Development Tools (AJDT)

*CVS Location:* dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.eclipse.ajdt/plugins/org.eclipse.ajdt

|===
| *Plug-in* | *Dependencies* | *Description*
| org.eclipse.ajdt.ui | org.aspectj.ajde | AspectJ IDE support for Eclipse
| org.aspectj.ajde | ajde, asm, bridge | AspectJ libraries plug-in
|===