It’d be handy if Yii::trace() & Yii::log() would allow me to log or trace object states and array contents without having to do the added step myself.
e.g.
public static function log($msg,$level=CLogger::LEVEL_INFO,$category='application')
{
if(self::$_logger===null)
self::$_logger=new CLogger;
if(false===is_string($msg))
$msg=var_export($msg,true);
if(YII_DEBUG && YII_TRACE_LEVEL>0)
{
...
var_export/print_r whatever. Or am I just being too lazy? 
I’ve made this change to my own Yii codebase, anyway.