Tracing
Tracing is a software observability technique that records the flow of requests through a distributed system, capturing detailed information about each operation's execution path, timing, and dependencies. It involves instrumenting code to generate trace data, which is then collected, stored, and visualized to help developers understand system behavior, diagnose performance issues, and monitor reliability. This is often implemented using tools that follow standards like OpenTelemetry to provide end-to-end visibility across microservices and cloud-native applications.
Developers should learn and use tracing when building or maintaining distributed systems, microservices architectures, or complex applications where understanding request flows and latency is critical for debugging and optimization. It is essential for identifying bottlenecks, troubleshooting errors that span multiple services, and ensuring performance SLAs in production environments, such as in e-commerce platforms, financial services, or real-time data processing pipelines.