Dictionary.net

The debugging technique where the programmerinserts print statements into a program so that when run theprogram leaves a "trail of breadcrumbs" allowing him to seewhich parts were executed. The information output may just bea short string to indicate that a particular point in the codehas been reached or it might be a complete stack trace. Theoutput typically just goes to the window or terminal in whichthe program is running or may be written to a log file.printf is the standard C print function, other languageswould use different names.