prometeu-runtime/docs/runtime/learn/mental-model-observability-and-debugging.md

Observability and Debugging

Status: pedagogical Companion spec: ../specs/10-debug-inspection-and-profiling.md

PROMETEU was designed to be observable.

Debug Philosophy

There are three central ideas here:

1. state comes before abstraction;
2. time is a first-class citizen;
3. observing must not alter the logical result.

That pushes the project toward a debugging style that is closer to machine reasoning and farther from "trial and error".

Why This Matters

When the machine exposes stacks, heap, cycles, buffers, and faults consistently, the programmer can:

• locate real cost;
• correlate time and memory;
• justify technical decisions;
• debug without inventing magical explanations.

Teaching Value

This pedagogical surface exists because PROMETEU also wants to teach how systems are analyzed:

• debugging as informed observation;
• profiling as evidence reading;
• certification as a reproducible technical report.