Analyzing the runtime behavior of a program given a set of one or more probes and points for inserting the probes for performing a specified inspection, includes providing a compiler with one or more of the following types of information about each probe: specifying the probe's context, its filter criteria, whether it is a fast-path probe, whether it is a timing probe, the probe's guard swing, the probe's context hardness, and the probe's temporal hardness; and compiling the program with the one or more probes and the information.