Clustering the Java Virtual Machine Using Aspect-Oriented Programming

Clustering (and Caching) is a crosscutting infrastructure service that has historically been implemented with API-based solutions. As a result, it has suffered from the same code scattering and tangling problems as other crosscutting concerns. This paper will show how Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) can help to modularize clustering and turn it into a runtime infrastructure Quality of Service. The authors will show how AOP can be used to plug in directly into the Java Memory Model, which allows them to maintain the key Java semantics of pass-by reference, garbage collection and thread coordination across the cluster, e.g. essentially cluster the Java Virtual Machine underneath the user application instead of the user application directly.