Attribute-oriented programming

Attribute-oriented programming (@OP) is a technique for embedding metadata, namely attributes, within program code.

Attribute-oriented programming in various languages

Java

With the inclusion of Metadata Facility for Java (JSR-175)^[1] into the J2SE 5.0 release it is possible to utilize attribute-oriented programming right out of the box. XDoclet library makes it possible to use attribute-oriented programming approach in earlier versions of Java.

C#

The C# language has supported attributes from its very first release. These attributes was used to give run-time information and are not used by a preprocessor. Currently with source generators, you can use attributes to drive generation of additional code at compile-time.

UML

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) supports a kind of attribute called stereotypes.

Hack

The Hack programming language supports attributes. Attributes can be attached to various program entities, and information about those attributes can be retrieved at run-time via reflection.

Tools

Annotation Processing Tool (apt)
Spoon, an Annotation-Driven Java Program Transformer
XDoclet, a Javadoc-Driven Program Generator

References

^ "The Java Community Process(SM) Program - communityprocess - final".

"Attribute-Oriented Programming". An Introduction to Attribute-Oriented Programming. Archived from the original on May 26, 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2005.
Wada, Hiroshi; Suzuki, Junichi (2005). "Modeling Turnpike Frontend System: a Model-Driven Development Framework Leveraging UML Metamodeling and Attribute-Oriented Programming" (PDF). In Proc. of the 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MoDELS/UML 2005). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-03-21.
Rouvoy, Romain; Merle, Philippe (2006). "Leveraging Component-Oriented Programming with Attribute-Oriented Programming" (PDF). In Proc. of the 11th ECOOP International Workshop on Component-Oriented Programming (WCOP 2006). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-23.

External links

Don Schwarz. Peeking Inside the Box: Attribute-Oriented Programming with Java5
Sun JSR 175
Attributes and Reflection - sample chapter from Programming C# book
Modeling Turnpike Project
Fraclet Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine: An annotation-based programming model for the Fractal component model
Attribute Enabled Software Development book

Programming paradigms (Comparison by language)

Imperative

Structured	Jackson structures Block-structured Modular Non-structured Procedural Programming in the large and in the small Design by contract Invariant-based Nested function
Object-oriented (comparison, list)	Agent Class-based Prototype-based Object-based Immutable object Persistent Uniform Function Call Syntax

Declarative

Functional (comparison)	Recursive Anonymous function (Partial application) Higher-order Purely functional Total Strict GADTs Dependent types Functional logic Point-free style Expression-oriented Applicative, Concatenative Function-level, Value-level
Dataflow	Flow-based Reactive (Functional reactive) Signals Streams Synchronous
Logic	Abductive logic Answer set Constraint (Constraint logic) Inductive logic Nondeterministic Ontology Probabilistic logic Query
DSL	Algebraic modeling Array Automata-based (Action) Command (Spacecraft) Differentiable End-user Grammar-oriented Interface description Language-oriented List comprehension Low-code Modeling Natural language Non-English-based Page description Pipes and filters Probabilistic Quantum Scientific Scripting Set-theoretic Simulation Stack-based System Tactile Templating Transformation (Graph rewriting, Production, Pattern) Visual