19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying instructions for a method to permit a user to debug a set of interpretation rules for a host instrument, the method comprising: providing one or more sets of interpretation rules to be selected by a user for downloading to a host instrument; transmitting one or more non-native commands to the host instrument, wherein the one or more non-native commands is part of a command set supported by an alternate instrument to trigger the alternate instrument to perform one or more actions when received; and providing access to the one or more sets of interpretation rules for editing by the user, wherein the host instrument applies the downloaded and edited interpretation rules to the one or more non-native commands to determine the one or more actions that the one or more non-native commands instruct the alternate instrument to perform; wherein the edited interpretation rules are subsequently used by the host instrument to interpret the one or more non-native commands to determine the one or more actions and performing by the host instrument the one or more actions that the alternate instrument performs upon receiving the non-native command.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying instructions for a method to permit a user to debug a set of interpretation rules for a host instrument, the method comprising: providing one or more sets of interpretation rules to be selected by a user for downloading to a host instrument; transmitting one or more non-native commands to the host instrument, wherein the one or more non-native commands is part of a command set supported by an alternate instrument to trigger the alternate instrument to perform one or more actions when received; and providing access to the one or more sets of interpretation rules for editing by the user, wherein the host instrument applies the downloaded and edited interpretation rules to the one or more non-native commands to determine the one or more actions that the one or more non-native commands instruct the alternate instrument to perform; wherein the edited interpretation rules are subsequently used by the host instrument to interpret the one or more non-native commands to determine the one or more actions and performing by the host instrument the one or more actions that the alternate instrument performs upon receiving the non-native command. 23. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein each set of interpretation rules corresponds to a different command set, and further wherein each command set corresponds to one or more alternate instruments.