Declarative Programming
Declarative programming is a programming paradigm that focuses on the "what" aspect of problem-solving rather than the "how." This means that in declarative programming, the programmer specifies the desired results without explicitly outlining the steps or algorithms needed to achieve those results.
This contrasts with imperative programming, where the programmer must provide detailed instructions on how to achieve the desired outcome. Declarative programming often leads to more concise, readable code, and can be found in languages and paradigms such as SQL for database queries, HTML for web page structure, and functional programming languages like Haskell.
In the context of AI/ML, declarative programming can be used in specifying constraints or models in machine learning algorithms without detailing the algorithmic steps to solve them. For instance, in a logic programming language like Prolog, which is used for AI applications, a developer can define rules and relationships about a problem domain, and the Prolog system will figure out the solutions that meet those rules.
Another example is specifying a neural network architecture in a high-level API like Keras, where the developer defines the layers and connections (the "what") and Keras, along with a backend like TensorFlow, figures out how to train the model (the "how").