TRON command
TRON is a debugging command in old dialects of the BASIC programming language. It is an abbreviation of TRace ON. It was used primarily for debugging line-numbered BASIC GOTO and GOSUB statements. In text-mode environments such as the TRS-80 or DOS, it would print the current line number which was being executed, on-screen. In a windowed environment, when the TRON command had been executed, a window would indicate the line number being executed at that instant. This command's opposite is TROFF, or TRace OFF, used to turn off command tracing.[1]
TRON and TROFF were included in Altair Extended BASIC (written by Microsoft) in 1975,[2] and were inherited by many of the microcomputer and PC BASICs that descended from it.
TRON and TROFF were made obsolete by the advent of multitasking windowing environments, which permit a developer to switch back and forth between program output and source code. Modern IDEs take advantage of this to allow far more sophisticated debugging (line-by-line step-through execution of source code, examination/modification of variables, etc.). As a result, TRON/TROFF are no longer supported by most current BASIC dialects, including Microsoft Visual Basic.
References
[edit]- ↑ "TRON and TROFF Statements Details". QBASIC News. 1988. Archived from the original on 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
- ↑ "Altair Extended BASIC Preliminary Documentation" (PDF). MITS, Inc. December 1975.
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