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Explaining legacy code | Explain legacy code | {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_chat_short %} can help with explaining unfamiliar code. |
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One of the biggest challenges with legacy code is helping developers understand it who aren't familiar with the languages or frameworks. With {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_chat_short %}, you can explain the background you have and ask for an explanation.
Consider the following COBOL code. If you're a Python developer (as an example), you might not be familiar with COBOL, so you could ask {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_chat_short %} to explain the code to you.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. INSERT-RECORD. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. DATA DIVISION. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 01 WS-STATUS-FLAGS. 05 WS-DB-STATUS PIC X(2). 88 WS-SUCCESS VALUE "00". 05 WS-SQLCODE PIC S9(9) COMP. 05 WS-ERROR-MSG PIC X(50). LINKAGE SECTION. 01 LS-PARAMETERS. 05 LS-PERSON-RECORD. 10 PERSON-ID PIC 9(6). 10 PERSON-NAME PIC X(50). 10 PERSON-AGE PIC 9(3). 05 LS-RESULT PIC X. 88 SUCCESS VALUE 'T'. 88 FAILED VALUE 'F'. PROCEDURE DIVISION USING LS-PARAMETERS. PERFORM INSERT-AND-VALIDATE GOBACK . INSERT-AND-VALIDATE. EXEC SQL INSERT INTO persons (id, name, age) VALUES (:PERSON-ID, :PERSON-NAME, :PERSON-AGE) END-EXEC IF SQLCODE = 0 EXEC SQL COMMIT END-EXEC SET SUCCESS TO TRUE ELSE EXEC SQL ROLLBACK END-EXEC SET FAILED TO TRUE STRING "DB Error: " SQLCODE DELIMITED BY SIZE INTO WS-ERROR-MSG DISPLAY WS-ERROR-MSG END-IF . You can ask for an explanation of the COBOL code from the point of view of a Python developer.
I'm a Python developer. Help me better understand this code. Please provide analogies.
{% data reusables.copilot.example-prompts.response-is-an-example %}
{% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} provides a high-level overview of the code, before walking through the various operations and explaining them in a way that Python developers can understand. It uses analogies to make the explanation more accessible. The response might start with the following:
Let me explain this COBOL code using Python analogies: High-Level Overview This is similar to a Python function that inserts a person's record into a database with error handling. # In Python, the COBOL divisions would be like:# IDENTIFICATION DIVISION = module/file name# PROGRAM-ID = function namedefinsert_record(): pass# DATA DIVISION would be like declaring these variables:classWorkingStorage: db_status=""# WS-DB-STATUSsqlcode=0# WS-SQLCODEerror_msg=""# WS-ERROR-MSG# LINKAGE SECTION is like function parametersclassPersonRecord: def__init__(self, person_id: int, person_name: str, person_age: int): self.person_id=person_id# PERSON-IDself.person_name=person_name# PERSON-NAMEself.person_age=person_age# PERSON-AGEself.success=False# LS-RESULT{% data reusables.copilot.example-prompts.further-reading-items %}
