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Re: How does XML limit "the range of implementationdecisions t

• From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>
• To: Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>
• Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2022 12:16:35 +0100

The domain he's referring to is not XML, but what he calls "scanning" (probably meaning here lexical analysis).

I actually think he's wrong. Nonprocedural programming is most successful in domains such as database query (SQL) where there's a vast range of implementation decisions to be made (query execution plans), and choosing the right one is best done by a machine rather than a human.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 23 Jun 2022, at 11:45, Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> A book [1] that I am reading says something interesting about declarative languages (such as XML):
> 
> Programming a scanner generator is an example of nonprocedural programming [i.e., declarative programming]. That is, unlike ordinary programming, which we call procedural, we do not tell a scanner generator "how" to scan but simply "what" we want scanned. This is a higher-level approach and in many ways a more natural one. ... Nonprocedural programming is most successful in limited domains, such as scanning, where the range of implementation decisions that must be automatically made is limited.
> 
> That last sentence is interesting. I wonder how it applies to XML? XML is in a limited domain, right? XML's domain is the data formats domain, right? How is "the range of implementation decisions that must be automatically made" limited in XML?
> 
> /Roger
> 
> [1] "Crafting a Compiler with C" by Fischer and LeBlanc, p. 52
> 
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• References:
  • How does XML limit "the range of implementation decisions that mustbe automatically made"?
    • From: Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>