What’s the difference between the Debug class and Trace class?

Debug Class 

Provides a set of methods and properties that help debug your code. This class cannot be inherited.

Namespace: System.Diagnostics
Assembly: System (in system.dll)

Syntax:

public sealed class Debug

If you use methods in the Debug class to print debugging information and check your logic with assertions, you can make your code more robust without impacting the performance and code size of your shipping product.

This class provides methods to display an Assert dialog box, and to emit an assertion that will always fail. This class provides write methods in the following variations: Write, WriteLine, WriteIf and WriteLineIf.

The BooleanSwitch and TraceSwitch classes provide means to dynamically control the tracing output. You can modify the values of these switches without recompiling your application. For information on using the configuration file to set a switch, see the Switch class and the Trace Switches topic.

You can customize the tracing output's target by adding TraceListener instances to or removing instances from the Listeners collection. By default, the DefaultTraceListener class emits trace output.

You can modify the level of indentation using the Indent method or the IndentLevel property. To modify the indent spacing, use the IndentSize property. You can specify whether to automatically flush the output buffer after each write by setting the AutoFlush property to true.

To set the AutoFlush and IndentSize for Debug, you can edit the configuration file corresponding to the name of your application. The configuration file should be formatted like the following example:

The ConditionalAttribute attribute is applied to the methods of Debug. Compilers that support ConditionalAttribute ignore calls to these methods unless "DEBUG" is defined as a conditional compilation symbol. Refer to a compiler's documentation to determine whether ConditionalAttribute is supported and the syntax for defining a conditional compilation symbol.

To define the "DEBUG" conditional compilation symbol in C# and J#, add the /d:DEBUG option to the compiler command line when you compile your code or add #define DEBUG to the top of your file. In Visual Basic, add the /d:DEBUG=True option to the compiler command line or add #Const DEBUG=True to the file.

ConditionalAttribute is not supported by the C++ compiler. To provide equivalent functionality, you must enclose calls to the methods of Debug in an #if defined(DEBUG) ... #endif block, and add the /DDEBUG option to the compiler command line or add #define DEBUG to the file.

In Visual Studio 2005 projects, by default, the "DEBUG" conditional compilation symbol is defined for debug builds, and the "TRACE" symbol is defined for both debug and release builds. For information on how to disable this behavior, see the Visual Studio 2005 documentation.

Example:

// Specify /d:DEBUG when compiling.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
       Debug.Listeners.Add(new TextWriterTraceListener(Console.Out));
       Debug.AutoFlush = true;
       Debug.Indent();
       Debug.WriteLine("Entering Main");
       Console.WriteLine("Hello World.");
       Debug.WriteLine("Exiting Main");
       Debug.Unindent();
    }
}

I hope this is enough all to understand.

Thanks!

Trace Class 

Provides a set of methods and properties that help you trace the execution of your code. This class cannot be inherited.

Namespace: System.Diagnostics
Assembly: System (in system.dll)

Syntax:

public sealed class Trace

You can use the properties and methods in the Trace class to instrument release builds. Instrumentation allows you to monitor the health of your application running in real-life settings. Tracing helps you isolate problems and fix them without disturbing a running system.

This class provides methods to display an Assert dialog box, and to emit an assertion that will always Fail. This class provides write methods in the following variations: Write, WriteLine, WriteIf, and WriteLineIf.

The BooleanSwitch and TraceSwitch classes provide means to dynamically control the tracing output. You can modify the values of these switches without recompiling your application. For information on using the configuration file to set a switch, see the Switch class and the How to: Configure Trace Switches topic.

You can customize the tracing output's target by adding TraceListener instances to or removing instances from the Listeners collection. By default, trace output is emitted using the DefaultTraceListener class.

The Trace class provides properties to get or set the level of Indent, the IndentSize, and whether to AutoFlush after each write.

To set the AutoFlush and IndentSize for Trace, you can edit the configuration file that corresponds to the name of your application. The configuration file should be formatted like the following example:

The ConditionalAttribute attribute is applied to the methods of Trace. Compilers that support ConditionalAttribute ignore calls to these methods unless "TRACE" is defined as a conditional compilation symbol. Refer to a compiler's documentation to determine whether ConditionalAttribute is supported and the syntax for defining a conditional compilation symbol.

To define the "TRACE" conditional compilation symbol in C# and J#, add the /d:TRACE option to the compiler command line when you compile your code or add #define TRACE to the top of your file. In Visual Basic, add the /d:TRACE=True option to the compiler command line or add #Const TRACE=True to the file.

ConditionalAttribute is not supported by the C++ compiler. To provide equivalent functionality, you must enclose calls to the methods of Trace in an #if defined(TRACE) ... #endif block, and add the /DTRACE option to the compiler command line or add #define TRACE to the file.

In Visual Studio 2005 projects, by default, the "DEBUG" conditional compilation symbol is defined for debug builds, and the "TRACE" symbol is defined for both debug and release builds. For information on how to disable this behavior, see the Visual Studio 2005 documentation.

Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows CE Platform Note: The .NET Compact Framework does not support tracing features that use a configuration file.

Example:

// Specify /d:TRACE when compiling.
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
       Trace.Listeners.Add(new TextWriterTraceListener(Console.Out));
       Trace.AutoFlush = true;
       Trace.Indent();
       Trace.WriteLine("Entering Main");
       Console.WriteLine("Hello World.");
       Trace.WriteLine("Exiting Main");
       Trace.Unindent();
    }
}