Logging Frameworks

There are several logging frameworks available for the .NET development community. One of the more popular ones is Log4Net. Like many things in life, this framework has gotten more popular because of its popularity--kind of like a celebrity being famous for being famous.

One of the framework's problems, however, is its complexity. Looking at the size of the DLL alone will tell you that. (If you write a relatively small application, the logging DLL will be larger than your application!)

Here's a link that really cracked me up. This guy thinks that spending 8 hours to successfully implement and configure Log4Net is amazing. (Amazing in that it only took 8 hours.) No, he isn't joking.

That's ridiculous!

Here's a logging framework that makes sense. I noticed several other postings across the net that referred to The Object Guy's Logging Framework. It may not be as popular as the other framework, but it looks like people who have compared them--at least from what I've read--prefer The Object Guy's Logging Framework. This is an example of what I mean. And here's what the author of the framework thinks.

And check out this review: he says it is the best logger ever.

And it sure won't take 8 hours to figure out. It's more like 8 minutes.

Take the challenge yourself: if you haven't used either framework, spend 15 minutes with each one. Afterwords, decide which one you'd prefer to spend more time with. I'd bet 9 out of 10 people will choose The Object Guy's Logging Framework.