Three (maybe more) steps to AOP

Through Dion I have read the AOP initialization guide published by Richard Monson-Haefel. Wow! It would be great to be so easy. Unfortunately I have the feeling that it is not like this (hey guys everybody would already got the mind on fire after so many years of AOP and only 3 steps to get it). Moreover, I think that these 3 steps may in fact lead you to wrong conclusions: aop will solve your logging problems; aop is not standard and maybe the most dangerous one: aop is interception. I know this, because they all happened to me [damn-it/]. I have been tricked by these during the years I have tried to get to AOP. I've met AOP ideas a few years ago. I have jumped to AspectJ in his early days and I didn't like it - why? because it was not pure java, because I couldn't find much applicability. At those days J2EE was pushed high and I got to JBoss with their interception ideas used inside the container. And I have been tricked again: AOP is interception. It took me longer to put me back on the right track and to really understand what AOP is. I guess I have got the the real picture after reading a couple of AOP papers and definitely after reading a book - that absolutely great book of Ramnivas AspectJ in Action. Nowadays the AOP presentation is more powerfull than ever: the most powerfull project AspectJ with its upcoming AJ5 and a full set of books to cover and introduce you to the AOP world. These days it will be harder to fall to the same mistakes I've made. But still beware! Choose carefully your first (3 or more) steps to AOP and don't be afraid to ask if you are on the correct side of the street.