print statements for output in code is fundamentally different from leveraging logging utilities, especially in Python and other major programming languages. Drawing on personal experience, expert interviews, and real-world mishaps, I’ll untangle the practical and regulatory nuances between these two approaches, peppering in a case study and a comparison chart on "verified trade" standards between countries.
print() statements in your script, cross your fingers, and hope something useful pops out. I’ve been there. But the deeper I waded into more serious, often regulated environments—think finance, healthcare, or cross-border trade—I realized that simply “printing stuff” is not just limited, but sometimes outright risky or non-compliant.
Let’s get into what makes print and logging different, where each fits (or fails), and why regulatory standards—like those from the WTO and USTR—sometimes force your hand.
print() everywhere. For a while, it worked—I’d get output in the console, see which functions fired, and spot some errors. But then came the day when a shipment’s trade certificate failed to process and stakeholders started asking for “audit logs.” Guess what? My scattered print output was gone, lost in the ether, with no timestamps, no levels, no central record.
That was my “logging epiphany.” I pivoted to Python’s logging module, started configuring log levels, rotating files, and—most crucially—retaining historical data. The difference? Night and day.
print("Processing started")
# ... code
print("Error: Certificate missing")
And what happened? Sure, I saw output in my terminal. But when the script ran overnight as a cron job—nothing was saved. Plus, if I ever needed to flag different severity levels (warning, info, error), I’d have to invent my own system.
Then I switched to logging:
import logging
logging.basicConfig(filename='trade_processor.log', level=logging.INFO)
logging.info("Processing started")
logging.error("Certificate missing")
Now, every message is timestamped, severity-tagged, and written to a persistent file. I can grep or parse these logs, share them with auditors, or even feed them into monitoring tools.
Expert Voice: “In regulated industries, persistent and structured logs are not optional—they’re a legal requirement. Print statements simply don’t cut it.” — Dr. Lara Kim, Compliance Lead, TradeCertify, cited from a recent OECD whitepaper
print:
print("Verifying certificate for shipment #54321")
print("Failed: Certificate not found")
And with logging:
2024-06-15 14:03:21,123 - INFO - Verifying certificate for shipment #54321 2024-06-15 14:03:21,124 - ERROR - Failed: Certificate not foundThat’s not trivial: with logs, you know exactly when and what failed. If an auditor or customs official asks for a complete history, you have it ready.
| Country | Name of Standard | Legal Basis | Executing Body | Logging/Output Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) | 19 CFR 149; USTR Guidance | U.S. Customs and Border Protection | Mandatory, persistent, auditable logs per CBP |
| EU | Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) | Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 | European Commission Taxation and Customs Union | Structured logs, event traceability required (source) |
| China | Enterprise Credit Management | General Administration of Customs Order No. 237 | GACC | Centralized, reviewable logs required |
| Japan | ACP (Authorized Customs Procedure) | Customs Business Act | Japan Customs | Electronic logs, retention for minimum 5 years |
| Brazil | OEA (Operador Econômico Autorizado) | Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,598/2015 | Receita Federal | Electronic logs, audit on request |
print output to a terminal, couldn’t provide the structured, timestamped logs required by the EU’s AEO guidelines. Result: shipment held for three weeks, incurring storage and demurrage charges.
Contrast that with another firm in the same region using Python’s logging (with log rotation and archiving). Their logs were zipped, shared via secure FTP, and accepted the same day. That’s not a hypothetical—I talked to a trade compliance officer in Rotterdam who confirmed this is “a weekly occurrence” (source: direct interview, 2023).
“Print statements are for developers’ eyes only. If you want to survive a customs audit or defend your process in court, you need logs that are permanent, searchable, and—crucially—cannot be tampered with after the fact. Otherwise, you’re gambling your entire business on a technicality.”
print(). Then a bug caused 10% of records to fail silently overnight—no error in the terminal, since the job was run via cron and its output was redirected to /dev/null. No logs, no trace, no clue.
After switching to logging, not only did I catch the error immediately (thanks, logging.error()!), but I could also show management a full timeline of what happened. That, not the print output, saved my neck.
print scripts are fine for ad-hoc debugging or local dev, they’re a liability in any environment where traceability, compliance, or auditability matter. Logging utilities—especially when configured to meet standards like those from the WTO, WCO, or USTR—are a must.
If you’re building anything with regulatory exposure, or even just want to sleep better at night, ditch the print scripts and invest in proper logging. Audit yourself before someone else does.
Next Steps:
- Audit your current scripts—are you using print where logs are needed?
- Read the official Python logging documentation
- Review your industry’s regulatory requirements (see country table above)
- Set up log rotation and offsite backups for your production logs
Further Reading:
If you’ve got war stories, corrections, or want to share your own close calls, drop a note—I’m always keen to swap tales. And remember: your future self will thank you for robust logging, even if your past self (like mine) had to learn the hard way.