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Coding Studio

Explain Tool

Get detailed, educational breakdowns of how code works. Perfect for learning, code reviews, and understanding unfamiliar codebases.

Keyboard shortcut: Cmd/Ctrl + 1

What It Does

The Explain tool analyzes your code and produces a comprehensive, educational explanation that covers:

Step-by-Step Breakdown

Line-by-line or block-by-block explanation of what the code does, how it works, and why it's written that way.

Complexity Analysis

Big-O time and space complexity analysis, identifying potential performance bottlenecks and scalability concerns.

Edge Cases

Identification of edge cases, boundary conditions, and potential failure modes that the code handles (or should handle).

Key Concepts

Explanation of programming concepts, patterns, and language features used in the code, great for learning.

How to Use

1

Select Explain Tool

Click the Explain button in the toolbar (blue icon) or press Cmd/Ctrl + 1.

2

Paste Your Code

Enter the code you want to understand in the left panel. The language will be auto-detected, or you can select it manually.

3

Click "Explain Code"

Click the action button to start the analysis. ARKAbrain will route your request to the optimal model based on code complexity.

4

Review the Explanation

Read through the structured explanation in the Result tab. Use the table of contents to jump to specific sections.

Example

Here's an example of code you might want explained:

binary-search.jsJavaScript
function binarySearch(arr, target) {
  let left = 0;
  let right = arr.length - 1;

  while (left <= right) {
    const mid = Math.floor((left + right) / 2);

    if (arr[mid] === target) {
      return mid;
    }

    if (arr[mid] < target) {
      left = mid + 1;
    } else {
      right = mid - 1;
    }
  }

  return -1;
}

The Explain tool would provide:

  • Overview of the binary search algorithm and its purpose
  • Step-by-step walkthrough of the while loop logic
  • Explanation of the pointer manipulation (left, right, mid)
  • Time complexity: O(log n), Space complexity: O(1)
  • Edge cases: empty array, single element, target not found
  • Prerequisite: array must be sorted

Best Practices

Focus on Specific Code

For best results, submit focused code snippets (functions, classes, or modules) rather than entire files. This produces more detailed and relevant explanations.

Include Context

If your code uses custom types, interfaces, or imports from other files, include them in your submission for a more complete explanation.

Use Cases

  • Learning: Understand algorithms, patterns, and language features
  • Code Reviews: Quickly grasp what unfamiliar code does
  • Onboarding: Get up to speed on a new codebase
  • Documentation: Generate explanations to include in docs
  • Interview Prep: Understand algorithm implementations