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    Scripting Overview
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C# scripts can be used for extending Igor Code generation capabilities. By default you can use C# 4.0. Modern C# versions can be used with a **Roslyn** compiler.

See :ref:`script_compilation` for details on how to provide C# scripts to the **Igor Compiler** application and how to use **Roslyn**.

See :ref:`vs_scripts` to learn how to edit and debug your scripts with **Visual Studio**.

.. seealso:: `API Reference`_

.. _`API Reference`: ../../../api/index.html

Script Execution Model
=======================

The result of parsing Igor files is called a syntax tree (AST). It is a tree representation of source Igor files. 

Syntax tree is not directly translated into a target language code. Instead, an intermediate **target model** is generated first. 
A target model contains high level declarations of the target language (e.g. modules, classes, class members, etc.). 
That allows target language declarations to be easily extendible (new classes can be added to a module, 
new properties and functions can be added to a class, etc.). Only after the **target model** is built, text rendering is performed
and target language code files are generated.

.. image:: scripting_model.png
   :height: 101px
   :width: 581px
   :scale: 100 %
   :alt: Scripting Model
   :align: center

The process of building the **target model** can be extended using extension scripts. Extension script generators are executed 
after built-in generators, so that scripts can modify any declarations generated by the built-in generators.