Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) has been introduced as a potential programming approach for the specification of nonfunctional component properties, such as fault-tolerance, logging and exception handling. Such properties are referred to as crosscutting concerns and represent critical issues that conventional programming approaches could not modularize effectively leading to a complex code. This paper discusses AOP concept, the necessity that led to it, how it provides better results in code quality and software development efficiency, followed by stating challenges that developers and researchers face when dealing with this approach. It has been concluded that AOP is promising and deserves more attention from developers and researchers. However, more systematic evaluation studies should be conducted to better understand its implications. Keywords—Aspect Oriented Programming; software