Java Logging Guide: The Basics

Logging helps track application performance and identify failures for debugging and auditing, but quality logging requires appropriate design by developers. Java provides its own logging framework that includes Loggers, Handlers and Formatters, but many developers use more advanced third-party alternatives like Log4j 2 or Logback despite their potential security risks. Abstractors like SLF4J or Apache commons-logging help switch between logging frameworks easily. A well-designed logging strategy also considers what to log, where to log, and how to classify logs according to their importance.