My favorite Open Source tools for Dot Net are NHibernate, NUnit and Log4Net. There are others I use. But these three seem to always be in nearly every application I write.
What’s funny is that there are a lot of tools similar to these three. In fact, Microsoft has copied all three of them in one fashion or another. Entity Framework is the most mature. MSTest is a poor substitute IMHO. And few logging libraries come close to the number of logging sources available in Log4Net.
Each of these libraries is released as an open systems library. They are mature, secure, and stable. The code base is maintained frequently. So why would I use them instead of something that comes straight out of the box with the Microsoft tools such as Visual Studio and the Dot Net framework?
Ok, this may sound a little bit like phishing for comments, I admit it. This is a question we all need to ask ourselves when we select libraries for our own development. Do I use the adequate (sometimes) tool provided for free, do I purchase a robust expensive tool from a third party vendor, do I use an open systems tool and risk it losing momentum and becoming obsolete, or do I simply write my own library?
I’ve done all of the above at one time or another. I haven’t found a perfect answer, nor have I always found the choice I made was ultimately the best fit for the long term.
So, if you’re interested in this topic, and you feel it is valuable to once again tickle the little grey brain cells to come up with questions you might ask yourself when evaluating these options, then why not leave your comment here online, or send your ideas to my email box at btaylor@sswug.org to be included in a future newsletter?
Cheers,
Ben