Re: How to declaratively describe a mapping that invol

>A declarative description seems to me like just a procedural description but
with less detail

Well, one distinction that people make is that a declarative description says
what the answer should be, a procedural description says how to go abount
computing it. So on that basis, yes, a declarative description cuts out the
detail of "how to compute the answer".

But that doesn't mean you are being more declarative if you are being more
vague about what exactly you want. "Give me a list of good places to eat round
here" is not more declarative than "give me a list of 3-star Italian
restaurants within 5 miles of here" - it's just vaguer. A procedural
description would differ by giving instructions about where to look for the
information.

Michael Kay

> On 12 Mar 2024, at 20:19, Dimitre Novatchev dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Do you agree that a declarative description is like a procedural
description but with less detail?
>
> Definitely not.
>
> If the "less detail" is sufficient for finding the solution to the problem,
then any other solution that needs "more detail" is obviously sub-optimal and
may be incorrect.
>
> It doesn't matter if one solution is "declarative" or the other is
"procedural" -- the above stands true for any two solutions, regardless of how
they have been labeled.
>
> Thanks,
> Dimitre
>
> On Tue, Mar 12, 2024 at 10:53b/AM Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:costello@xxxxxxxxx> <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>> Someone sent me this response:
>>
>> "A declarative description seems to me like just a procedural description
but with less detail: it's a continuum rather than a sharp dichotomy.  I see
no obvious limit to how "declarative" we could make things, particularly as AI
gets better and better at anticipating what we want.  Like, maybe you'll just
say to GPT-8, "write me a first-person shooter game where I get to battle a
7-headed hydra," and it will fill in all the details, asking you clarification
questions as needed."
>>
>> Do you agree that a declarative description is like a procedural
description but with less detail?
>>
>> /Roger
>>
>>
>
>
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