Treffer: Version 2.*.* and counting! The toll of evolution on aspect-oriented distribution

The distributed Java Virtual Machine (dJVM) is a cluster aware implementation of a JVM, designed specifically for evaluating distributed runtime support algorithms [6]. A prototype implementation of the dJVM is available as a patch file applied to IBM’s Jikes Research Virtual Machine (RVM) [2] version 2.2.0, released in January 2003. This patch touches roughly 55 % of the original 1500 files. In previous work, we considered the impact of AOSD on this implementation of distribution [3]. Factors we looked at included internal structure, external interaction and reduced code size. But an important part of this study remained untested: as the RVM continues to undergo rapid evolution, what toll is this evolution going to take on the aspects? The current release of the Jikes RVM, as of November 2005, is version 2.4.2. This paper provides a case study characterizing the major evolutionary trends over the period between these two versions and considers the impact this evolution has on the implementation of distribution as a patch versus aspects. This work is preliminary as the new, full implementation of the dJVM for 2.4.2 is not yet available. Therefore, the analysis in this paper is based on code inspection of the two versions of the Jikes RVM, as far as distribution modifications are concerned. 1.