What's New

2.6.0 - June 2025

• Added Code Explanation for selected Assembler (Preview) code within VS Code and Eclipse based IDEs.

  This is a Generative AI capability that summarizes and explains Assembler code. You can generate an explanation for an entire program, a selection of lines within the program in the editor, or outline any code element by selecting only the relevant variable, procedures, or blocks.

  For selected Assembler source code, the code explanation service provides Explain This (Preview) explanation.

• Natural Language Support - Added localization for Code Explanation for Dutch and Korean languages also on VS Code and all supported locales on Eclipse based IDEs.
• Include Comments - Keeps any comments within your source code when requesting an explanation from our Generative AI solution. This feature is now supported in Eclipse based IDEs.
• Obtain summary of large COBOL programs is available in the Chat Experience feature.
• Installing watsonx Code Assistant for Z service on prem through Cloud Pak for Data is supported on Eclipse based IDEs.

2.5.0 - April 2025

• Added Code Explanation for selected REXX code within VS Code and Eclipse based IDEs.

  This is a Generative AI capability that summarizes and explains REXX code. You can generate an explanation for an entire program, a selection of lines within the program in the editor, or outline any code element by selecting only the relevant variable, procedures, or blocks.

  For selected REXX source code, the code explanation service provides two levels of code explanation: Simple and Detailed.

• Natural Language Support - Added localization for Code Explanation for French, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, and German languages.
• Include Comments - Keeps any comments within your source code when requesting an explanation from our Generative AI solution.
• Support for Explain Code Lens - Provides the ability to request explanation for selected piece of code block or snippet.

• IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z is now available in EU and US. The new endpoint for the new deployment is https://api.eu-de.dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com. At present, this endpoint does not support Code Explanation and Chat Experience.

2.4.10 - February 2025

• Obtain summary of large COBOL programs - This feature enables you to request a summary of large COBOL files. While this request is being processed in the background, you can continue to use Code Explanation to generate explanations for other code. The resulting explanation is a Summary, regardless of the level of explanation (Simple, Detailed, or Guided) you chose. This feature is not available in the Chat Experience.
• Code explanation functionality for PL/I is supported in Eclipse based IDEs.
• You can customize the font style or size of Eclipse based explanations through Preferences.
• From the Project Explorer and z/OS Explorer views in Eclipse IDEs, you can generate explanations for full COBOL or PL/I files.

2.4.0 - December 2024

Code Explanation for selected PL/I code within VS Code editor

This is a Generative AI capability that will summarize and explain PL/I code. You can generate an explanation for an entire program, a selection of lines within the program in the editor, or outline any code element by selecting only the relevant variable, procedures, or blocks.

For selected PL/I source code, the code explanation service provides three levels of code explanation: Simple, Detailed, and Guided.

Chat experience for Code Explanation

A new opt-in chat experience, in VS Code only, for code explanation that uses an agentic framework. For information about this new chat experience, see Overview.

2.3.0 - October 2024

2.2.0 - September 2024

Code Explanation service for COBOL is available On Prem.

2.1.0 - August 2024

Code Explanation for selected JCL code within VS Code editor

This is a Generative AI capability that will summarize and explain a single step within a JCL job. You can generate an explanation by selecting lines within the JCL job by using the outline panel or in the editor.

JCL Code Explanation at two different levels: Simple and Detailed

You can select a single JCL step and generate an explanation for the following levels:

For selected JCL source code, the code explanation service provides two levels of code explanation: Simple and Detailed.

• Simple: A simple summary explanation provides the business purpose and a high-level summary of the JCL step logic.
• Detailed: A detailed explanation provides the summary of the JCL step, inputs and output, and a detailed summary of the control statements used.

2.0.0 - June 2024

Code Explanation for selected COBOL code within VS Code editor

A Generative AI capability that will summarize and explain COBOL program source code selections for understanding an application without human intervention. You can generate an explanation for an entire program, a selection of lines within the program in the editor, or outline any code element by selecting only the relevant variable, function, modules, or class name.

Enhanced Z Refactoring Assistant with Code Explanation for key conditions

Generate an explanation for any key condition from the key conditions view.

Exporting Code Explanation results to a local file

You can choose to save the explanation results to an isolated text document.

Inserting Code Explanation results as a comment in the code

You can insert explanation results into the corresponding code for documentation.

Code Explanation at three different levels: Simple, Detailed, and Guided

You can select a whole set of code in a file or select the portion of COBOL code you want to generate an explanation for in the following categories:

Simple

A simple summary explanation provides the business purpose and a high-level summary of the code function.

Detailed

A detailed explanation provides the business purpose, the inputs, outputs, and key data records, as well as a detailed functional summary of code function.

Guided

A guided explanation provides the business purpose and a step-by-step description of the code function.