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Federico Tomassetti9 min readintermediate

Codebase Blueprint: it all started with Legacy Codebases

Read on tomassetti.me

Summary

This article introduces Codebase Blueprint, a static analysis tool designed to quickly understand complex legacy codebases for migration planning. It provides insights into code structure, dependencies, and usage patterns across various languages like RPG, COBOL, and SQL, demonstrating its utility through a practical change request scenario.

  • Codebase Blueprint uses static analysis to map dependencies and identify constructs across diverse legacy languages (e.g., RPG, COBOL, SQL).
  • It helps identify 'migration indicators' and frequently used language features, aiding in prioritizing migration efforts.
  • The tool can group files into logical modules based on relationships, enabling phased migration and testing.
  • It supports tracing data flow (e.g., field usage) and visualizing program execution (sequence diagrams) to assess change impact.

This tool is highly relevant for engineers and consultants who need to rapidly comprehend, assess, and plan migrations for large, complex legacy systems written in multiple, often obscure, programming languages.

7/10
architecturetoolingstatic analysislegacy systemscode migrationrefactoring

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