“Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.”- Philip Stanhope
Trust me when I say you do not want to write codes you can't explain, debug, or track. Each stage or process of software development must be tracked in order to avoid unforeseen circ*mstances that could cause the software to crash. We've seen many cases over the years of a tiny bug that went completely unnoticed until it was pushed into production, costing the company a sh*tload of money. This may happen due to lack of little information that logging would have provided.
We need to understand what is going on in our application, how it is running, and how the entire system functions to produce a good software. So, with logs, we can easily obtain information about what is going on in the application, including a record of errors and unusual circ*mstances. However, we must log at critical points to avoid fixing problems caused by loggers more often than the loggers give us useful information. For good practice, we may have to consider monitoring, but this article focuses solely on logging.
What is Logging?
Logging is simply the act of recording and tracking the state and the process of our application. Logging keeps track of what happens while a program is running, including any errors, warnings, or notable events that occur. This data can be used to troubleshoot issues and improve the program's effectiveness and efficiency. We all know that every action of a program is a reaction to the code that was written. Logging directly points to actions for better comprehension. No wonder scientists require binoculars at times; programmers, too, have logging. Without logging, it might be difficult to comprehend what is taking place inside a program and to find and fix problems.
Allow me to use myself as an example of how logging saved my life many years ago. The problem occurred while I was working on a Java application. In this case, I was persisting a class that didn't have an ID. I needed to get the inputs using the ID at some points, but I couldn't because the ID value was null. I had to log to track the persistence before I realized the ID values were null.
Logging is an important aspect of programming that assists developers, system administrators, and users in identifying and resolving program issues.
Moreover, Logging is used for certain purposes and has varying degrees of severity. Developers and system administrators can monitor a program's behavior and performance, as well as spot and fix problems as they arise, by employing various levels of logging. We have considerable amount of logging but the most popular ones are:
-Error
-Warning
-Info
-Debug
-Trace
-Fatal
Phew!! Now Let us briefly explain the levels of logging we have here.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Error
The error log is assigned to the event logs that contain an application error message. Error logging is a technique for recording errors that occur during program execution, such as exceptions or crashes. The error log assists in identifying errors that prevent a particular function or operation from running as expected.
Warning
The severity level of the warning log is lower than that of the log error. The warn log is assigned to the event logs that may contain an error message. Warning logging assists in identifying potential issues that may affect a program's operation. It points out that an operation will fail in the future if action is not taken now.
Info
The information log is quite robust. As a Java developer, I sometimes rely on log info to determine whether my app has started or stopped. Info logging is used to record general information about a program's execution, such as when a server starts, initializes, stops, or crashes. Most importantly, it informs us of the application's current state. It primarily highlights the actions that have resulted in a change in the application's state.
Debug
This debug log highlights information that is useful during the development and testing stages of debugging. It provides not only the developers but the entire system managers with enough information on the running application. However, debug information is not really required during the production phase because it can consume storage and most likely slow down our application's performance. The importance of debug logs cannot be overstated, especially for developers in the development stage. Yes! Personally, I refer to it as a log-save my life….lol
Trace
The trace log is like the debug log in some ways, but it contains more information. Trace log messages, like debug log messages, are typically only used for debugging complex issues and are not typically enabled in production environments. It assists in highlighting the most detailed messages about the execution of a system, functions, and the overall flow.
Fatal
The error log is assigned to event logs that contain an application error message that caused the application to unexpectedly stop or terminate. It is important to note that, unlike log fatal, log error may not cause the application to stop. If anerror occurs, the software might end right away without finishing the present task or saving any data. Any fatal errors must be logged and investigated verybecause doing so could have major effects such as data loss.
In programming, the importance of logging cannot be overstated. Because it makes it simple for programmers and system administrators to monitor a program's behavior and performance, it makes it easier for them to find and fix problems. Also, it can be used to optimize performance and identify usage patterns. Additionally, developers can use logging to generate reports and warnings that will improve the way they manage and monitor their systems. In general, logging is a vital tool that gives programmers the ability to keep an eye on and update their code, verify compliance, and enhance performance.
Although logging is important and helpful, knowing how to use it correctly is very helpful to prevent correcting issues that loggers produced rather than the helpful information they provide to us.
