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 debugge

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.