I can totally change it if you insist, I just don't see the disadvantage of it being there.
Clarity, mostly. It looks like an optimization at first glance, but if it were an optimization I'd expect to see
``` if (trace->record_count && trace->records[trace->record_count - 1].timestamp <= time && !trace->records[trace->record_count - 1].statically_written) continue; ```