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

c++ linux debugging
omer.gimenez picture omer.gimenez · Sep 17, 2008 · Viewed 154.3k times · Source

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,

Answer

jbleners picture jbleners · Sep 17, 2008

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.

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