Methods and apparatus for partial and consistent monitoring of object-oriented programs and systems

A technique for monitoring events generated by an object-oriented system comprises the steps/operations of: (i) monitoring events which describe executed operations associated with the object-oriented system; and (ii) applying one or more sequencing rules when reporting a subset of the monitored events, the one or more sequencing rules substantially ensuring consistent reporting of the subset of monitored events. Preferably, monitoring continues when event reporting is at least partially disabled. Further, the monitoring step/operation may include dividing the monitored events into categories. One category may include entity events, an entity event defining an existence status of a given event. Another category may include activity events, an activity event defining an operation associated with a given event. Still further, the entity events and activity events may be further divided into at least one of an object event category, an execution event category, a type event category and a synchronization event category. The sequencing rules are applied to maintain substantial consistency with respect to information associated with the categories.