Structured Logging: Machine-Parseable Events¶

Logs as structured key-value data enable automated querying, aggregation, and correlation; unstructured text logs are human-readable but machine-hostile.

Tension Addressed¶

Detail vs. Noise - structure enables filtering signal from noise programmatically

Recognizable As¶

JSON/key-value log formats; log fields vs. free-text messages; ability to query logs by arbitrary attributes; correlation ID as standard field

Canonical Sources¶

Sridharan, "Distributed Systems Observability" (2018); 12-Factor App methodology

Transfers To¶

Data engineering (schema design), API design (structured responses), Event sourcing (event schema), Audit trails (queryable records)

The shift from printf debugging to structured logging mirrors the shift from ad-hoc file formats to databases: structure enables tooling.