TRACE(3alleg4)

💖 TRACE 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Allegro manual — manual section 3alleg4, to be exact — and it's about a lil debugging helper macro called TRACE for the Allegro game programming library. it's giving "my code is talking to me and honestly? I need that." 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

TRACE — a debugging helper macro that traces messages for you. it lives in the Allegro game programming library. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

void TRACE(char *msg, ...);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea: TRACE is a debugging helper macro. normally? it compiles away to absolutely nothing. like, poof, gone, no trace of the trace 🙈. but if you defined the preprocessor symbol DEBUGMODE before including the Allegro headers, then it takes the message you supplied — given in ASCII format — and passes it along to al_trace(). iconic behaviour honestly.

example time, because we love a demonstration:

#define DEBUGMODE
#include
...
void my_blitter(BITMAP *source, int flags)
{
   static int count_call = 0;
   TRACE("my_blitter() called %d times.\n", count_call++);
   ...
}

not me noticing that #include line has nothing after it — that's exactly how the original page has it, bestie, so we're keeping it character for character. no cap. 🎀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• al_trace(3alleg4)
• ASSERT(3alleg4)
• register_trace_handler(3alleg4)

and that's the whole vibe, fr fr 💜 this page ships with Allegro version 4.4.3 — slay, periodt, go trace something cute. ✨🌸🦋