Frequently Asked TCC interview Questions and Answers

Q1. Explain TCC?

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TCC is a command processor compatible with CMD (the default command processor in Windows) but massively enhanced with thousands of additional features. TCC-RT is a runtime-only  version of TCC, distributed as a separate free product.

Q2. Brief about the TCC Overview?

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TCC has a huge set of capabilities. These capabilities are grouped into three categories: 

• Internal Commands - These are the primary language constructs. Common commands include, DIR, COPY, MOVE, etc. TCC gives you instant access to more than 235 internal commands. (Microsoft's CMD.EXE has fewer than 40 internal commands.).

• Internal Variable - Internal variables are special variables built into TCC to provide information about your system. They are not stored in the environment, but can be accessed as if they were environment variables in interactive commands, aliases, and batch files. Take Command provides more than 270 internal variables that can tell you a great deal about your computer and how it is operating. These include installed hardware, hardware status, operating system and software status, etc. 

• Variable Functions - Variable functions are very similar to internal variables, but they take one or more parameters (which can be environment variables or even other variable functions). Variable functions are useful at the command prompt as well as in aliases and batch files to check on available system resources, manipulate strings and numbers, and work with files and filenames. There are more than 360 variable functions built into TCC.

Q3. What are the several aspects of TCC’s internal command set?

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• Switches
• Aliases
• HTTP and FTP
• Flow of Control Commands
• KEYSTACK Command
• Event Monitoring Commands (Triggers) -- We made this into a separate tutorial

Q4. Explain Internal Variables?

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Internal variables are special variables built into TCC to provide information about your system. They are not stored in the environment, but can be accessed as if they were environment variables in interactive commands, aliases, and batch files. 

There are more than 280 of them (CMD has less than 10). Key types of variables include: 

• Hardware status
• Operating system and software status
• Dates and times
• Drives and directories
• Error codes
• Screen, color, and cursor
• Take Command status
• Compatibility

Q5. Event Monitoring Overview?

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TCC features a number of internal commands to allow you to do real-time monitoring of your system. These commands include: 

• FOLDERMONITOR - Monitor folder and/or file creation, modification, and deletion
• VENTMONITOR - Monitor event logs
• NETMONITOR - Monitor network connections and execute a command when a network is connected or disconnected
• PROCESSMONITOR - monitor processes and execute a command when a process is started or ended
• SERVICEMONITOR - monitor Windows services and execute a command when a service is started, paused, or stopped
• USBMONITOR - monitor USB connections and execute a command when a device is connected or disconnected
• FIREWIREMONITOR - monitor FireWire connections and execute a command when a device is connected or disconnected
• CLIPMONITOR - monitor the Windows Clipboard activity and execute a command when the clipboard is modified.
• DATEMONITOR - Monitor the current Windows system date and time and execute a command when the date and time matches.
• DEBUGMONITOR - Monitor writes to the OutputDebugString API.
• DISKMONITOR - Monitor free disk space.
• REGMONITOR - monitor Windows Registry keys
• SCREENMONITOR - Monitor the Windows screen saver.
• BLUETOOTHMONITOR - Monitor Bluetooth connections and execute a command when a device is connected or disconnected.
• POWERMONITOR - Monitor Windows system power changes.

Q6. What are the system variables of TCC?

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Q7. Explain about Variable Functions?

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Variable functions are one of the most powerful features of TCC. Variable functions are very similar to internal variables, but they take one or more parameters (which can be environment variables or even other variable functions). 

Variable functions are useful at the command prompt as well as in aliases and batch files to check on available system resources, manipulate strings and numbers, and work with files and filenames. 

There are more than 360 Variable Functions grouped into 13 categories. They allow you to gather and manipulate system information in very powerful ways. (CMD has no variable functions.). Remember...they are all built-in. 

• Binary buffers
• Dates and times
• Drives and devices
• File content
• File names
• File properties
• Input dialog boxes
• Monitoring
• Network properties
• Numbers and arithmetic
• Strings and characters
• System status
• Utility

Q8. What is Piping in TCC?

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Piping is a special form of redirection, using an additional instance of TCC for each instance of the piping specified in the command line.

You can create a pipe to send the standard output of a command (command1) to the standard input of another command (command2), and optionally also send the standard error as well

Q9. What is KEYSTACK in TCC Scripting?

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KEYSTACK sends keystrokes to an application program. Once the KEYSTACK buffer is empty, the program will receive the rest of its input from the keyboard. KEYSTACK is useful when you want a program to take certain actions automatically when it starts. It is most often used in batch files and aliases.

The KEYSTACK command overcomes two weaknesses of input redirection:

1. 1) some programs ignore standard input and read the keyboard through Windows APIs, and
2. 2) input redirection doesn't end until the program or command terminates. You can't, for example, use redirection to send the first few commands to a program and then type the rest of the commands yourself. But KEYSTACK lets you do exactly that.