[aspectj-dev] Plans for the next release of AspectJ...

[Adrian Colyer <adrian_colyer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This email is to share with you our
current plans for the next release
of AspectJ (probably numbered v1.2),
in order to get your feedback and
input on our direction, and so that
you know what to expect over the
next few months.
 
A critical factor in our planning is
the availability of Tiger (J2SE
1.5) support on the Eclipse platform.
The Eclipse 3.0 plan
(http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/development/eclipse_project_plan_3_0.html)
indicates that 3.0 will include early
support for Tiger. Eclipse 3.0
is planned for release in June 2004.
We plan therefore to do one more
major release of AspectJ before beginning
work on Tiger support. This
release (v1.2) will lay the groundwork
for a follow-on that delivers
Tiger support (generics, metadata, and
more) as quickly as possible
thereafter. 

We think AspectJ 1.2 should include
official support for weaving at
class-load time, quality and performance
improvements aimed at users
developing large, complex software systems,
and better support for IDE
integration (such as AJDT). We will
defer most language changes to the
next (J2SE 1.5) release.

Listed below are the main items that
we believe we can or can't do for
1.2. Many of the IDE related improvements
will be most visible in AJDT
(for a list of features slated for the
next AJDT release see the
"plans" link from the AJDT
homepage: http://www.eclipse.org/ajdt). If
your favourite feature is not represented,
and you believe our
priorities should change then please
let us know. This is also a good
time for new contributors to step up
and implement fixes or features,
always a good way to make sure the things
you care about get
done ;). Contributing now will position
new developers for a role in
the J2SE 1.5 related release, which
promises to be a major milestone
in the evolution of AspectJ. If you're
thinking of contributing please
contact myself or one of the AspectJ
team directly so that we can talk.

Strong candidates for the 1.2 release:
================================

Feature highlights:
---------------------------
* weaving class loader support
* improve performance and memory usage
for compile/weave and runtime
* provide documentation and samples
for using AspectJ with popular J2EE servers
* allow the specification of input directories
(not just jars) for binary weaving
* enhancements to IDE support for incremental
structure model 

For a full list see: 
http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/indextech.cgi/~checkout~/aspectj-home/developerPlans.html

A number of bugs have also been ear-marked
for fixing in the 1.2 release. These are listed at the above address.

Potential candidates for the 1.2 release:
==================================

Feature highlights:
---------------------------
* pertype aspect instantiation model
* class attributes in type patterns
* support for context information in
declare error/warning messages
* user specifiable exception in declare
soft
* serial version uid support

For a full list see:
http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/indextech.cgi/~checkout~/aspectj-home/developerPlans.html

A number of bugs have also been ear-marked
for potential fixing in the 1.2 release. These are listed at the above
address.

Thanks and stay in touch -
The AspectJ Team.