IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z is an end-to-end AI and automation developer assistant designed to streamline mainframe application modernization. Each capability within the offering is purpose-built to improve developer productivity and application maintainability while accelerating the modernization journey with less risk.  

IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z 2.5 brings powerful new features designed to further reduce complexity and empower informed modernization decision-making, including: Code Explanation for REXX, PL/I application refactoring, and a host of enhancements designed to elevate your mainframe development experience. 

Expanded programming and natural language support for Code Explanation  

IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z Code Explanation leverages a fine-tuned LLM to provide natural language explanations of mainframe code. This capability delivers powerful insights into applications, helping to bridge knowledge gaps and enhance productivity. It empowers developers with a clearer understanding of the code and enables faster modernization. Generated explanations can also be inserted back into the code as comments for future use or downloaded for documentation.  

The latest release of watsonx Code Assistant for Z extends Code Explanation support to include REXX, in addition to the existing support for COBOL, JCL, and PL/I. Users can also now choose to generate code explanations in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and French, in addition to English.  

Clients have flexibility in deployment and can take advantage of these new features on-premises or as-a-service in the IBM Cloud, seamlessly integrated within a Visual Studio (VS) Code interface.  

New Refactoring Support for PL/I Applications 

Clients seeking to reduce complexity and modernize PL/I applications can now decompose large monolithic applications and create new modular business services quickly with Refactoring Assistant. With this capability, developers can identify PL/I programs to modernize and extract the selected code to create new, reusable services. Refactoring not only simplifies the overall application structure, but also enhances application maintainability and boosts developer productivity- making it easier and faster to modernize mainframe applications.   

Streamlined Optimize Setup and New Performance Insights 

To improve performance of COBOL programs, developers can leverage watsonx Code Assistant for Z Code Optimization Advice to gain insights into performance bottlenecks through a detailed analysis and optimize the application with prioritized, actionable recommendations.  

In this latest release, clients can now get statement-level performance insights, enabling faster diagnosis and resolution to performance issues linked to specific COBOL statements within batch jobs. In addition, clients can streamline the initial setup of the Code Optimization with new JOBLIB support, significantly reducing manual effort and increasing productivity. 

Enhanced Code Transformation experience 

With the assistance of automation and generative AI, watsonx Code Assistant for Z Code Transformation enables developers to transform COBOL code into well-architected, object-oriented Java.  

This new release provides enhanced support for IMS Segment Search Arguments (SSA) and EXEC Data Language/I (EXEC DLI), enabling a more comprehensive transformation of IMS concepts into Java. This release also introduces support for the SQLJ framework, enabling static SQL statements in COBOL to be seamlessly transformed to corresponding SQLJ statements in Java. Additionally, clients can deploy Code Transformation as-a-Service in the IBM Cloud, now available in Frankfurt in addition to the existing Dallas region. 

Get started today 

Get started on your AI-assisted mainframe application modernization journey today with watsonx Code Assistant for Z and check out the interactive demo.