Re: [xml-dev] RE: Declarative programming requires a different mindset

[Michael Ludwig <milu71@gmx.de>]

Costello, Roger L. schrieb am 11.04.2010 um 08:31:18 (-0400)
[[xml-dev] RE: Declarative programming requires a different mindset]:

> With regard to my statement "XHTML is a declarative programming
> language" I must confess that I got the idea from the Wikipedia
> article on Declarative Programming [1]:

> Many markup languages such as HTML, MXML, XAML, XSLT, SVG or other
> user interface markup languages are often declarative. HTML, for
> example, only describes what should appear on a webpage and doesn't
> specify the possible interactions with it.

> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarative_programming 

"Many markup languages [...] are often declarative." How can a markup
language *often* be declarative? It either is or isn't, but there is no
temporal aspect to its being one way or the other.

There's not even basic linguistic discipline in the text you quoted, let
alone logical rigor. And it's a waste of time to try and infer any. I
wouldn't bother reading such stuff, just avoid it.

And I'd consider accepting that (1) things are blurry and (2) you don't
always need clear-cut rules and definitions to get by. More Sokrates,
less Aristoteles :-)

-- 
Michael Ludwig