Tracing versus Logging and how does log4net fit in?

Question

I am wondering about what the difference between logging and tracing is.

Is the difference basically that tracing is more detailed log giving developers a tool to debug applications at runtime?

I have been experimenting with log4net and doing logging. Now I am wondering if I should be doing tracing as well and if I could/should use log4net for that purpose. Should I be doing tracing with log4net and is there some trace level for log4net loggers? Should I use a different log level for debug and trace purposes or is it ok to use the same? Can you give a simple example on how I would do logging and tracing for a simple method?

Edit: Despite a few helpful answers below I am still unsure how I should be doing tracing versus logging.

I have the following method in my Business layer and I want to add logging/tracing to it. I am wondering how to do it efficiently. Is the following method acceptable in terms of logging/tracing? Should the log messages be of type Info instead of Debug? Are the Debug messages I am logging considered trace? How would you change it?

  IEnumerable<Car> GetCars() {    try    {       logger.Debug("Getting cars");       IEnumerable<Car> cars = CarAccessor.GetCars().ConvertAll(DataAccessToBusinessConverter);       logger.Debug("Got total of " + cars.Count + " cars");     } catch (Exception e) {       logger.Error("Error when getting cars", e);       throw new Exception("Unexpected error when getting cars");    } }  

Answer 1

Logging is the generic term for recording information - tracing is the specific form of logging used to debug.

In .NET the System.Diagnostics.Trace and System.Diagnostics.Debug objects allow simple logging to a number of "event listeners" that you can configure in app.config. You can also use TraceSwitches to configure and filter (between errors and info levels, for instance).

private void TestMethod(string x) {     if(x.Length> 10)     {         Trace.Write("String was " + x.Length);         throw new ArgumentException("String too long");     } } 

In ASP.NET, there is a special version of Trace (System.Web.TraceContext) will writes to the bottom of the ASP page or Trace.axd. In ASP.NET 2+, there is also a fuller logging framework called Health Monitoring.

Log4Net is a richer and more flexible way of tracing or logging than the in-built Trace, or even ASP Health Monitoring. Like Diagnostics.Trace you configure event listeners ("appenders") in config. For simple tracing, the use is simple like the inbuilt Trace. The decision to use Log4Net is whether you have more complicated requirements.

private void TestMethod(string x) {     Log.Info("String length is " + x.Length);     if(x.Length> 10)     {         Log.Error("String was " + x.Length);         throw new ArgumentException("String too long");     } } 

Answer 2

IMO...

Logging should not be designed for development debugging (but it inevitably gets used that way)
Logging should be designed for operational monitoring and trouble-shooting -- this is its raison d’être.

Tracing should be designed for development debugging & performance tuning. If available in the field, it can be use for really low-level operational trouble-shooting, but that is not its main purpose

Given this, the most successful approaches I've seen (and designed/implemented) in the past do not combine the two together. Better to keep the two tools separate, each doing one job as well as possible.