Which is the best Linux C/C++ debugger (or front-end to gdb) to help teaching programming?

Admin 1
Viewed 159960

I teach a sort of "lite" C++ programming course to novices ("lite" meaning no pointers, no classes, just plain old C, plus references and STL string and vectors). Students have no previous experience in programming, so I believe that using an interactive debugger would help them understand program flow, variables, and recursion.

The course is taught in Linux. Teaching them to use gdb is just overkill (they will not use nor understand most features). I just need something simple but easy to use: to see at which line the program is now, what is in the stack (local variables, previous calls, etc.). I look something similar to old Turbo Pascal or Turbo C++ Borland's debugger, or Visual Studio debugger.

Thank you,

linux c++ debugging
5 Answers

ddd is a graphical front-end to gdb that is pretty nice. One of the down sides is a classic X interface, but I seem to recall it being pretty intuitive.

ajbl_5422260

You may want to check out Eclipse CDT. It provides a C/C++ IDE that runs on multiple platforms (e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, etc.). Debugging with Eclipse CDT is comparable to using other tools such as Visual Studio.

You can check out the Eclipse CDT Debug tutorial that also includes a number of screenshots.

Jon_Ball_102160

Perhaps it is indirect to gdb (because it's an IDE), but my recommendations would be KDevelop. Being quite spoiled with Visual Studio's debugger (professionally at work for many years), I've so far felt the most comfortable debugging in KDevelop (as hobby at home, because I could not afford Visual Studio for personal use - until Express Edition came out). It does "look something similar to" Visual Studio compared to other IDE's I've experimented with (including Eclipse CDT) when it comes to debugging step-through, step-in, etc (placing break points is a bit awkward because I don't like to use mouse too much when coding, but it's not difficult).

HidekiAI_72340
Related