General trace and log analysis patterns allow the application of uniform diagnostics and anomaly detection across diverse software environments. It includes troubleshooting, debugging, describing, and explaining problems and incidents on various operating systems and platforms. It is also helpful in recording network traces, malware, general data, narratives, and text and image analysis (space-like narratology). This course, organized as a pattern language dictionary and cross-referenced with classification, explains and teaches more than 200 traces and log analysis patterns.

A Guide to Learning Software Trace and Log Analysis Patterns

## File size
Trace and log analysis starts with an assessment of artifact **file size**, especially with multiple logging scenarios in distributed systems. If all log files are of the same size, we may have either [circular traces](https://www.educative.io/courses/guide-learning-software-trace-log-analysis-patterns/calibrating-circular-combed-distribution-empty) or
[truncated traces](https://www.educative.io/courses/guide-learning-software-trace-log-analysis-patterns/partition-shape-summary-truncated-visibility). Both point to the wrong trace timing plan or simply to that they are using the default tracing tool configuration.

# File size
Trace and log analysis starts with an assessment of artifact **file size**, especially with multiple logging scenarios in distributed systems. If all log files are of the same size, we may have either [circular traces](https://www.educative.io/courses/guide-learning-software-trace-log-analysis-patterns/calibrating-circular-combed-distribution-empty) or
[truncated traces](https://www.educative.io/courses/guide-learning-software-trace-log-analysis-patterns/partition-shape-summary-truncated-visibility). Both point to the wrong trace timing plan or simply to that they are using the default tracing tool configuration.

This lesson introduces the following analysis patterns: file size, guest component, minimal trace, missing component, and no trace metafile.

Getting Started

Activity

Block and Data

Error and Large Scale

Message 1

Message 2

Trace as a Whole

Trace Set

Vocabulary, Memory, Code and Text

Conclusion

Index

Size, Guest, Minimal, Missing, No Metafile

File size