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I've done development both with and without an IDE and I find debugging vastly easier with an IDE. How do developers who don't use IDEs do debugging other than

I've done development both with and without an IDE and I find debugging vastly easier with an IDE. How do developers who don't use IDEs do debugging other than with print to console statements? Do they all use tools like gdb and lldb? I've pondered learning how to use a tool like gdb or lldb and then using SublimeText for editing the code, but it looks like a lot more work than just clicking to set a breakpoint in an IDE. I'm curious to hear what non-IDE developers are using for debugging.

Crusoe123 11y ago
Of course there are debuggers outside of the IDE world. For instance in Ruby we usually use a debugger as a library (gem) and we call it as a method call wherever you would put the breakpoint in your IDE. Typing in a method call on the line where you want to debug isn't much of a leap from clicking a breakpoint. I am sure the situation is similar in other languages.
- itsananderson 11y ago
  The big difference I'd point out is that breakpoints can be added and removed at runtime. Sounds like what you're describing is a situation where you have to modify your source code to add a breakpoint (similar to a "debugger" statement in JavaScript or C#). To me, the big value of an IDE is that it lets you set/unset breakpoints, step, inspect arbitrary data, and modify application state, all at runtime. Now, I still typically work in VIM and pop open an IDE/debugger only when I hit a hairy problem, but I still find them really useful in those cases.
Roboprog 11y ago
gdb on single threaded C code wasn't bad. I tended to put all the "static" data for a module within a structure, usually called "m", and would have the debugger do a "print m" and a "locals" automatically whenever it hit a breakpoint. This showed you pretty much the same data that a Java or C# GUI debugger does when you stop, albeit wrapped on a long line instead of one per line in a scrolling list. If you were really hard core, you could run gdb inside of emacs, and the edit window would follow along the right source files when you stepped and hit breakpoints. Honestly, back in 1994, gdb (as well as Borland Turbo Debugger) did way better auto-formatting of data than the MS C IDE did. I have not used VS since 2005, but it's debugger seemed no better than Eclipse or NetBeans. I started using IntelliJ this year, it's portable, and it rocks. But it costs money, just like Visual Studio.

Crusoe123 11y ago

Of course there are debuggers outside of the IDE world. For instance in Ruby we usually use a debugger as a library (gem) and we call it as a method call wherever you would put the breakpoint in your IDE. Typing in a method call on the line where you want to debug isn't much of a leap from clicking a breakpoint. I am sure the situation is similar in other languages.

itsananderson 11y ago
The big difference I'd point out is that breakpoints can be added and removed at runtime. Sounds like what you're describing is a situation where you have to modify your source code to add a breakpoint (similar to a "debugger" statement in JavaScript or C#). To me, the big value of an IDE is that it lets you set/unset breakpoints, step, inspect arbitrary data, and modify application state, all at runtime. Now, I still typically work in VIM and pop open an IDE/debugger only when I hit a hairy problem, but I still find them really useful in those cases.

Roboprog 11y ago

gdb on single threaded C code wasn't bad. I tended to put all the "static" data for a module within a structure, usually called "m", and would have the debugger do a "print m" and a "locals" automatically whenever it hit a breakpoint. This showed you pretty much the same data that a Java or C# GUI debugger does when you stop, albeit wrapped on a long line instead of one per line in a scrolling list. If you were really hard core, you could run gdb inside of emacs, and the edit window would follow along the right source files when you stepped and hit breakpoints. Honestly, back in 1994, gdb (as well as Borland Turbo Debugger) did way better auto-formatting of data than the MS C IDE did. I have not used VS since 2005, but it's debugger seemed no better than Eclipse or NetBeans. I started using IntelliJ this year, it's portable, and it rocks. But it costs money, just like Visual Studio.