Awesome Startup Architecture List

 

I wanted to put together my short list of awesome stuff you must have if you’re building a new web application on .Net. Each of these libraries is free, open source, and takes the simple, no-nonsense approach to getting things done that is essential in a startup. Before I get into the list just let me say that jQuery isn’t on the list because I just assume that you’re already using it, and because it’s already included by default when you create a new .Net web app.

Dapper
You really can’t make the claim that there is any one right way to do data access... but this is the one right way to do data access.  It was written by two of the guys at StackOverflow and it gives you reflection like functionality without reflection.  They actually emit IL.  It’s cool.
http://code.google.com/p/dapper-dot-net/

Automapper
When you find yourself writing that mapping code between your DTOs (or entities) and your ViewModels, save yourself some time and just use this incredibly useful convention based mapping library by Jimmy Bogard
https://github.com/AutoMapper/AutoMapper

NLog
It’s a good idea to bake logging into your app from the beginning. I have no idea why people still use Log4Net (confusing) when NLog (simple and awesome) is out there.
http://nlog-project.org/

Quartz.Net
Surprisingly powerful scheduler.  Ideal for writing processors, console apps, and windows services that do things on a schedule.
http://quartznet.sourceforge.net/

Twitter Bootstrap
CSS and Javascript that gives you a whole UI framework and a bunch of themed widgets to build a modern webapp on top of.  Before you write any UI code, spend a day experimenting with Bootstrap. It’s amazingly useful and it gives your app a super polished look.
http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/

JsRender
Javascript templating done right.  Indispensable if you’re  writing a single page javascript app using Bootstrap, BackboneJs, or KnockoutJs.
https://github.com/BorisMoore/jsrender

dotLess
A .Net port of the Less CSS library. In the style of FakeGrimlock: IT MAKE CSS MORE AWESOME!! 
http://www.dotlesscss.org/

jqModal
Simple jQuery based dialog boxes and modal popups.
http://dev.iceburg.net/jquery/jqModal/