Converting Declarative into Procedural (and Vice Versa)

Abstract

Procedural and declarative are often seen as two irreconcilable extremes. In this paper, we show how a reflective rule system can move between declarative and procedural interpretations with relative ease. We outline a new way to interpret these shifts, one which is more principled than the usual dichotomy. We also show that some relatively small changes in rule structure allow different dynamics to be assigned to rule components and to entire rules. This serves not only to show that description plays a critical role in reflection, but also to show that different kinds of dynamics can be supplied when required. Alternative dynamics can be provided by rule sets encoded in the same representation. The new structure can be used in exactly the same way as the ELEKTRA interpreter that is the main focus of this paper’s attention.