The philosophy behind IRTC is that of a high level interactive de-bugger. Through TLM the MSP430 is made into a stack machine with three functions.
Data may be transferred from the Host-PC to the TLM stack.
Data may be transferred from the TLM stack to the Host-PC.
The TLM may execute code at an address placed on its stack.
These three functions are all that is required to test individual Forth words or assembly subroutines. Then words or subroutines are added to the TLM code to extend it into an application. With the C@, file fetch, and C!, file store, routines added the TLM may test the hardware external to the MSP430, as we then have the capability to change any RAM space location and ports. The TLM may be seen as a server to the Host and programs may be written to exercise the Target hardware without any further MSP430 code being compiled. This ability to test the hardware, before any application specific software is written, is one of the main advantages of IRTC. Being Forth based, this process is interactive with direct hardware operation from the command line.