Code browsing techniques?

Following is a small function I use for searching code tree for keywords.
Are there better "ide-like" ways to browse code (beyond etags)?

(defun grep-word-at-point ()
  "grep of the word under point. "
  (interactive)
  (let (sym)
    (progn
      (setq sym (thing-at-point 'sexp))
      (if (not (null sym))
	;;  (warn sym)
	  (grep (concat "grep -rnw --include=*.[ch] '" sym "' ../*"))))))

Thanks,
Dan