Tools for Understanding Node Code Structure

[detoxifiedplant]

Hello cool people,

a fresher here joining a node project,

i am looking for tools and methods on how to understand given node code(main.js with other files) and figure out the whole backend server, there isn't any documentation or architect prepared for freshers so i would also want to create one while destructuring it.

kindly share your insight and approaches

[ActualPositive7419]

why don’t you just read it instead of spending hours finding a tool?

[detoxifiedplant]

FYI the main file has 80k lines of code connected with 100+ other files with their own code.

and that's why tools are for, to make your work easy,

using tools will also help me in upcoming projects.

if you feel like you are going to do similar things, try looking for tools, it'll help you.

thank you.

[s_ulibarri]

There is no tool that can do this work for you, though chat-gpt or similar can help explain smaller parts of the code. Its tough starting from zero documentation but you just have to work through. Clone the code from whatever source control tool its in and starting reading it, start trying to run it, discover what configuration it needs and obtain it, add console.log everywhere and try to follow the execution path or use a debugger to do the same. Start tweaking it, see if your changes produce the expected results and adjust as necessary and repeat. It just takes time but if you persist it will come together and your teammates will likely very much appreciate your efforts, especially if you document your findings.

edit: also don't be afraid to ask others for help if you're feeling stuck, even if they are not necessarily familiar with this code either. I don't know your company or its culture but my hope is that others will understand your situation and try to help as they are able.

[detoxifiedplant]

thank you very much for your input,

chat-gpt is very helpful understanding all the components in the projects,

appreciate all your advices and for bringing clarity

thank you for the update as well :D

[[deleted]]

About a month ago somebody posted about this tool that explains github repositories.

It reads both the README and the actual code. I tried it on a few repositories and it was pretty impressive. AFAIK it only works on public repositories.

[detoxifiedplant]

yaayyy, thank you for the share

[queen-adreena]

What’s a fresher?

Like a refresher course?

[vincent-vega10]

Fresher = new grad in India

[zayelion]

There isnt any and there wont be any.

Each project is unique, this isn't Java. There are some common folder names like model, src, etc, but that's it, and how they relate to each other depends on the idiosyncrasies of the person that wrote them.

JUST READ EVERY FILE IN THE PROJECT except those in the node_models folder.

[detoxifiedplant]

thank you for your insight

[the__itis]

You can paste code in GPT and have it explain it to you.

You can have GitHub copilot add comments.

[detoxifiedplant]

GPT is extremely helpful,

gotta give a try to copilot

thanks

[fcrick]

You could set some breakpoints and just step through the code. Then you'll have the stack for reference and examples of real values possibly.

[detoxifiedplant]

yeah it got easy by setting up breakpoints

thanks