Implementing Tracing in Elixir with OpenTelemetry

This article, by Marcos Ramos, introduces the concept of trace systems in Elixir through the use of OpenTelemetry. It explores the notion of tracing as a means of linking events in a sequence, from a request's start to its response and operations with side effects. OpenTelemetry is presented as a collection of APIs, SDKs, and tools for such tasks, and the article goes into how to use it within Elixir. Examples are provided to illustrate the setup and usage of OpenTelemetry, with a simple case of instrumenting a function with a trace span. Additionally, the author shares insights into building an abstraction layer to simplify the use of OpenTelemetry, addressing common pain points and offering solutions to overcome them. By the end of the article, readers are expected to have a foundation for better-understanding tracing and how to apply it in their Elixir projects.