From IL Weaving to Source Generators, the Realm story

on YouTube ↗50m

" summary

Realm .NET moves from Intermediate Language weaving to Source Generators to make generated code readable, debuggable and part of the compile pipeline; migration (first SG release Nov 2022 after ~6 months work) replaces most weaving by generating accessor classes while keeping a tiny, targeted IL weaver because SGs are additive only. Tools used: ILSpy and SharpLab to inspect IL, Roslyn generators for generation. Result: shipped and working, added nullable support and fewer surprises, but full removal needs language features like partial properties and interceptors remain experimental.

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" chapters (15)

1. 0:00Introduction
2. 0:50Code generation in .NET
3. 1:32IL weaving explained
4. 6:05Inspecting IL code
5. 9:21Source Generators in .NET
6. 14:20Realm database
7. 18:53Why code generation
8. 19:14Realm’s IL weaving
9. 23:50Drawbacks of IL weaving
10. 28:10Transition to Source Generators
11. 31:25Source Generators advantages
12. 34:16Source Generators limitations
13. 38:15Realm’s mixed approach
14. 42:28Future of code generation
15. 46:43Conclusion

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