Explaining legacy code

[mario-campos]

One of the biggest challenges with legacy code is helping developers understand it who aren't familiar with the languages or frameworks. With Copilot Chat, you can explain the background you have and ask for an explanation.

Example scenario

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 Copilot Chat 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
    .

Example prompt

I'm a Python developer. Help me better understand this code. Please provide analogies.

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Source: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/copilot-chat-cookbook/documenting-code/explaining-legacy-code