Generate code from comments
Use literate coding to have Bob generate code from natural language comments, where Bob helps you write precise, context-aware code modifications directly in your editor.
Literate coding lets you write code with AI assistance directly inside your editor. Instead of switching to a chat window or writing long prompts, you type instructions in plain language right where the code should go. Bob then generates the implementation for you in context and shows a diff of the changes.
In this tutorial you fix an intermittent timeout by wrapping a code block with retry logic.
Literate coding is effective for the following modifications:
- Adding wrapper logic: Retry mechanisms, error handling, or logging around existing code
- Refactoring specific blocks: Modifying targeted sections while preserving surrounding logic
- Quick targeted modifications: Precise changes to specific functions without affecting broader structure. For complex modifications that affect multiple functions or files, consider using the agentic chat sidebar to create a Plan.
Prerequisites
To complete this tutorial, you need the following:
- If you do not already have it, clone the Galaxium Travels demo code. The clone command also checks out the
bob-learning-path-branchthat contains the code you use in the tutorials.
git clone -b bob-learning-path-branch https://github.com/IBM/galaxium-travelsIf you want to clone through the Bob IDE, follow the Clone the tutorial repository section of the quickstart tutorial.
- Bob IDE with the Galaxium Travels demo code open
- While not required, consider doing the Quickstart tutorial to familiarize yourself with Bob's interface and features.
Use literate coding
The Galaxium Travels back end is unreliable and occasionally gets timeout errors. Instead of rewriting the code from scratch, you can use literate coding to wrap the specific block of code with retry logic.
Open the file
Open the booking_system_frontend/src/pages/Flights.tsx file.
Position your cursor
Click into line 43.
Write your instruction
Enter the following natural language instruction to describe the desired change on line 43:
The backend is unreliable at times. We need a retry logic here
Generate the code
Click Generate to produce the modifications.
Bob presents changes in a diff view interface. The highlighted red text shows what code is removed and the highlighted green text shows what code Bob adds.
Accept the changes
Review the changes and click Accept All to apply them.
You have added a retry loop to resolve timeout errors in the Galaxium Travels web application.
Next steps
In this tutorial, you learned how literate coding lets you use precise, natural language-driven code modifications. Literate code shows you a code diff so that you can review code before accepting the changes.
Advance to Plan and implement complex features to learn about the agentic chat sidebar, which is the primary interface for complex, multi-step development tasks in Bob.
Get code predictions
Accelerate development with Bob's tab completion and next edit prediction, which suggest context-aware code and automatically navigate you to likely follow-up edit locations.
Plan and implement complex features
Learn how to use the agentic chat sidebar to employ a Plan mode → Code mode workflow, where Bob plans complex features end-to-end and then implements them autonomously across your full codebase.