Spans vs. Traces in OpenTelemetry: Which is Which?

This quick tips video discusses the differences between spans and traces in OpenTelemetry

[@MrBarneyDinosaur]

So a span is effectively a structured log (e.g. a JSON Object), and a trace is a collection of structured logs (e.g. an array of JSON objects) - where each structured log may have different attributes (including arrays of other structured logs)?

[@agardnerit]

Love the comment. It's one of the reasons I make this content. To provoke thought and discussion - so keep them coming :) I've always felt a bit uneasy with the projects use of that terminology. While technically, yes, spans are structured and traces are collections of spans. I feel like this oversimplifies and may lead new users (the intended audience for this video) to equate spans == logs. That would be a mistake because then they think: "oh well, I'll just use logs as I already do". You're not wrong though, technically. At the end of the day, Observability for me is the means to provide the ability to do your job (fix / prevent the issue, generate a report for the boss etc.). Whether that takes the form of a log line, or a span, or a metric, ultimately who cares (beyond those of us who live and breath Observability).