AOP -> HiddenMetrics: a non-invasive approach to invasive software measurements

Nowadays, the quality of software is becoming more and more important. The software must be efficient, correct, secure, flexible, reusable and adaptable just to cite few of wished characteristics. Therefore, to measure the software is an activity whose popularity and importance is increasing but, especially when related to dynamic aspects, it results very invasive and it poses serious constraints to its applicability, e.g., it needs the access to the source code or to adopt specific tools that need a high skill to be used. Aspect-oriented programming provides the mechanisms for reducing the invasiveness necessary to measure the software, and therefore for widening the software measurement applicability. In this paper, we present an aspectoriented approach to software measurements and a supporting framework.