Agreed. The declarative vs procedural discussion has been hot on and off
since at least the 1970s
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?FORM=&q=declarative+procedural+controver
sy
http://www.google.com/search?q=declarative+procedural+controversy
Web 1.0 pushed the pendulum toward the declarative (SQL + XSLT) side, Web
2.0 made the world safe for imperative Javascript, now XQueryP is proposed
to nudge XQuery in the imperative direction and LINQ is moving C# and VB in
the declarative direction. That thing isn't going to stop swinging anytime
soon.
I agree broadly, and I think both are necessary - purely declarative languages are good for describing environments, but mediocre at process by definition. What I see though is the increasing acceptance of functional languages and "broadly declarative" languages. Take a look at contemporary JavaScript - it's beginning to look increasingly like LISP and Scheme, and less and less like Java. I see this trend continuing, even in the face of other changes going on in the environment. Side effects are acceptable (and necessary) in local environments, but they become increasingly untenable the more you end up with a distributed programming model. I see that recognition becoming far more explicit over the next decade.
-- Kurt
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