Some types of classes share the same basic structure, and differ only in details. Type-safe enumerations (at least in JDK 1.4) and data-centric Model Objects are two examples. In such cases, aids for rapid code generation become very useful. These may take several forms :

• a simple template of text intended for copy-and-paste
• a passive code generator - generates source files which may need further edits. If further edits are performed, then they will be lost if the code generator is run a second time.
• an active code generator - generates source files which will not need further edits (the idea here is to use the code generator as part of the actual build, instead of relying on it for a one-time operation)
• a round-trip code generator - generates source files which may need further edits. If further edits are performed, then they will not be lost if the code generator is run a second time, since it will detect such edits, and use them to update its internal model.

Code generators often use simple, ad hoc textual descriptions as input. The codegeneration.net web site is a useful reference for code generation.

The extensive use of code generation is often called Model-Driven Development (MDD), or Model-Driven Architecture (MDA).

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