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World Congress 2026 Europe • Jul 9, 2026 • Session details

Code that writes code - .NET Source generators

Glenn F. Henriksen

Tired of writing repetitive boilerplate or relying on slow runtime reflection? Discover how .NET source generators hook into the compiler to automatically write AOT-compatible C# for you.

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#1 about 3 min

Understanding the basics of .NET source generators

Hook into the Roslyn compiler pipeline to deterministically generate C# code based on existing syntax trees.

#2 about 4 min

Implementing a basic source generator pipeline

Create an IIncrementalGenerator implementation to register and output generated source code files automatically during build time.

#3 about 7 min

Generating strongly typed identifiers to replace boilerplate

Use partial structs and the Roslyn syntax tree to automatically generate boilerplate comparison and serialization code.

#4 about 4 min

Generating C# code from external configuration files

Utilize the AdditionalTextProvider approach to inspect and generate native code directly from external unmanaged files.

#5 about 5 min

Raising build errors with custom diagnostic messages

Validate object mapping constraints at compile time by analyzing semantics and reporting explicit diagnostic build errors.

#6 about 6 min

Testing and debugging source generator output files

Verify generated code structures reliably using snapshot testing instead of relying purely on fragile debugger attachment setups.

#7 about 2 min

Best practices and optimization tips for compilation

Maintain fast incremental compilation phases by keeping search predicates short and caching minimally sized transform models.

#8 about 4 min

Replacing runtime reflection with native compilation features

Replace runtime reflection bottlenecks with compile-time steps and explore framework features that leverage generated components natively.

Matching moments

1:52 min

Overview of C# source generators and compilation pipeline

Jiří Činčura · WWC 2021

6:12 min

Common use cases for source code generation scenarios

Jiří Činčura · WWC 2021

1:29 min

Addressing iterative code generation and developer challenges

2:44 min

Using code generation to enable smaller development teams

Eric Bowman Eric Bowman · WWC Europe 2026

2:49 min

Accelerating software engineering velocity with automated code generation

Tim Berners-Lee · WWC 2023

11:41 min

Generative artificial intelligence and programming fundamentals

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

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