declarative language
<language> Any {relational language} or {functional language}.
These kinds of {programming language} describe relationships
between variables in terms of {functions} or {inference
rules}, and the language executor ({interpreter} or
{compiler}) applies some fixed {algorithm} to these relations
to produce a result.
Declarative languages contrast with {imperative languages}
which specify explicit manipulation of the computer's internal
state; or {procedural languages} which specify an explicit
sequence of steps to follow.
The most common examples of declarative languages are {logic
programming} languages such as {Prolog} and {functional
languages} like {Haskell}.
See also {production system}.
(2004-05-17)