Using roles to model crosscutting concerns

In object oriented languages the problem of crosscutting concerns, due to limitations in the composition mechanisms, is recurrent. In order to reduce this problem we propose to use roles as a way of composing classes that extends the Object Oriented approach and can be used to model crosscutting concerns. To support our approach we developed a role language that extends Java, while being compatible with existing virtual machines. As validation we conducted a case study using three open source systems. We identified crosscutting concerns in the systems and then modeled them using our role approach. Results show that roles are a viable option for modeling crosscutting concerns.