Developers’ Paradise: Understanding Codebases Cannot Be Simpler

July 22, 2024 No Comments

by Uzair Nazeer

Graphs are essential for showing dependencies or mappings because they visually represent the connections among objects, helping to identify relationships between nodes and edges. Imagine a code module as a graph with nodes and edges linking classes, method calls, and execution flow. A knowledge graph does this by illustrating information and the relationships between attributes and entities.

Knowledge graphs have become important for understanding code and dependencies in the large language models (LLM) space. They transform complex information into formats that both humans and machines can understand. To fully comprehend knowledge graphs and their application in coding, we first need to understand what a code graph is.

Code Graph: The Code Illustrator

The code graph is a graphical representation where codebases can be structurally visualized along with dependencies and relationships. A code graph can map and illustrate code components while showing the interactions and execution flow among elements.

At a granular level, we know graphs contain nodes and edges representing different information. In code graphs, nodes represent entities such as classes, methods, functions, and variables. On the other hand, edges represent the relationship between them such as dependencies, function calls, and execution flows. The best part about a code graph is that we can visualize and understand the code at both compile time and runtime.

Large Language Models (LLM) Limitations About Code

Large language models know the statistical correlation between words. However, they can’t grasp the context or meaning, making the code and underlying dependency understanding more complex. We can feed the large language models with the complete code module, but that doesn’t guarantee that the LLM will understand the dependencies and lineage across files or entities.

A general understanding of code is crucial for developers to make stable and consistent changes to the codebase. Large language models are only as good as the information we pass into them, and then they describe the flow in textual format. For detailed analysis, a deep dive into the code structure is necessary. When the flow, dependencies, and structure are visually presented, developers can understand more in-depth, apply changes, and implement new features confidently.

Why Choose Code Graph Over Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)?

Natural language text generated by LLMs with highlighted points must be more comprehensive to understand massive codebases. At times, the structure and flow can be grasped easily in small libraries and modules where the code is well-formatted and documented. Enterprise-grade codebases need visual cues and tooltips to analyze and understand the flow, relationships, mapping, dependencies, and lineage. This is where the code graph shines.

Understanding With an Example

Imagine a scenario where a data engineer is handling a large codebase containing multiple Data Manipulation Language or DML scripts. The scripts have several joins and aggregations. Large language models, when prompted with code snippets, can understand the current logic and respond to user requirements.

There is a 50–50 chance that the tables we are manipulating are not dependent on other tables. Here LLM response might help us derive the use case-specific logic, but without reloading or refreshing dependent tables, the data will not flow into the current job for processing. Code graphs understand the relationships and dependencies. They can visually suggest what prerequisites must be fulfilled before applying any changes.

The benefits of adopting code graphs over retrieval augment generation (RAG) are exceptional in software engineering. They enable developers to perform static and dynamic analysis of the code. Programmers can efficiently debug, refactor, optimize, and develop new features rapidly. They can also gain a better understanding of complex code bases, and in addition, architecting and maintaining the codebase can be swiftly handled without any breaking changes.

Features of Code Graphs

Code graph is an evolving paradigm that can promote coding practices exponentially. Its features include:

1. Visual representation of code entities as nodes and edges.

2. Relationship and hierarchy information of functions and methods along with execution flow.

3. Dependency and lineage overview.

4. Describe the entities while summarizing the logic and flow through natural prompts.

Features that can make the code graph concept stand out are:

1. View time state and flow checks to visually analyze and debug errors.

2. In-depth code backtracking to map code bases along with detailed tooltips.

3. Auto-analyze the flow and code to suggest performance optimizations, and flag bottlenecks, and security flaws.

4. Cloud and language agnostic analysis with enhanced capabilities.

Code Graphs Extendable Use cases

Graph edges define the interconnection among nodes making them the pathways to different parts. Through these pathways, we can navigate and understand the code better and conduct impact analysis when considering new changes or features. In a typical development cycle, when a new change is implemented the downstream codebase logic can get impacted and the owners or maintainers of that track might not be aware of the change.

Advanced code graph solutions have custom features that alter the node color based on the state. For example, yellow for planning, blue for development, red for Impact/bugs, and green for successful change implementation. This offers robust visibility into the codebase and keeps the business informed on every change. This takes care of code monitoring, insights, and ownership challenges while offering a unified graph view with detailed information.

Conclusion

Developers with a deep understanding of their tech stack and codebases are highly productive, effortlessly developing and integrating features. When they grasp the underlying mechanics, they can refactor existing logic or add new features without disrupting the program flow. Code graphs are the right choice for developers who seek to understand codebases quickly for rapid development. When advanced in the right direction, code graphs can become essential tools of software development promoting efficient development, optimization, and seamless integrations.

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