Book Image

Metaprogramming in C#

By : Einar Ingebrigtsen
Book Image

Metaprogramming in C#

By: Einar Ingebrigtsen

Overview of this book

Metaprogramming is an advanced technique that helps developers to automate repetitive tasks, generate scalable code, and enhance productivity in software development. Metaprogramming in C# is a comprehensive guide that will help you reap the full potential of metaprogramming in .NET runtime. You’ll start by learning about the .NET runtime environment and how you can use it to become a more productive developer. You'll learn how to infer types using reflection, use attributes, and create dynamic proxies. You’ll also explore the use of expressions to create and execute code and how to take advantage of Dynamic Language Runtime. But that's not all! You’ll also learn to go beyond inheritance and use method signature conventions to create easily maintainable code. Finally, you’ll dive into the world of compiler magic with Roslyn, where you'll discover how to use Roslyn to generate code, perform static code analysis, and write your own compiler extensions. By the end of this book, you’ll have a deep understanding of metaprogramming concepts and how to apply them to your C# code. You’ll be able to think about types, use attributes and expressions to generate code, and apply crosscutting concerns to improve code quality.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1:Why Metaprogramming?
5
Part 2:Leveraging the Runtime
12
Part 3:Increasing Productivity, Consistency, and Quality
18
Part 4:Compiler Magic Using Roslyn

Open/closed principle applied

The open/closed principle is a principle credited to Bertrand Meyer after its appearance in his 1988 book called Object-Oriented Software Construction. This is a principle regarding types we can apply in our software:

  • A type is open if it can be extended
  • A type is closed when it is available to other types

Classes in C# are open for extension by default. We can inherit from them and add new meanings to them. But the base class we’re inheriting from should be closed, meaning that there shouldn’t be any need for changes in the base type for the new type to work.

This helps us design our code for extensibility and keep responsibilities in the right place.

Taking a step back, we can apply some of this same thinking on the system level. What if our systems can just be extended with new capabilities without having to add configuration at the heart of a type for it to know about the additions?

This type of thinking is...