Difference between Procedural and Declarative Knowledge

We can express the knowledge in various forms to the inference engine in the computer system to solve the problems. There are two important representations of knowledge namely, procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge. The basic difference between procedural and declarative knowledge is that procedural knowledge gives the control information along with the knowledge, whereas declarative knowledge just provides the knowledge but not the control information to implement the knowledge.

Read through this article to find out more about procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge and how they are different from each other.

What is Procedural Knowledge?

Procedural or imperative knowledge clarifies how to perform a certain task. It lays down the step-by-step instructions to accomplish something. Thus, the procedural knowledge provides the essential control information required to implement the knowledge. In programming, this approach focuses on describing the exact sequence of operations.

Example

The following example shows how to copy an array using JavaScript in a procedural way ?

var a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
var b = [];
for(var i = 0; i 

[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]


What is Declarative Knowledge?


   Declarative or functional knowledge clarifies what to do to perform a certain task rather than how to do it. It describes the desired outcome without specifying the control flow. In declarative knowledge, only the knowledge is provided but not the control information to implement the knowledge. The system figures out how to achieve the specified result.


Example


   The following example shows how to copy an array using JavaScript in a declarative way ?


var a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
var b = a.map(function(number){
   return number * 1;
});
console.log(b);


[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]


Better Examples Comparison


   Here's a clearer comparison using array filtering:


Procedural Approach (How to filter)

var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
var evenNumbers = [];
for(var i = 0; i 

[ 2, 4, 6 ]


Declarative Approach (What to filter)

var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
var evenNumbers = numbers.filter(function(num) {
   return num % 2 === 0;
});
console.log(evenNumbers);


[ 2, 4, 6 ]


Key Differences

Conclusion

Procedural knowledge focuses on the "how" with explicit control flow, while declarative knowledge emphasizes the "what" with implicit execution. Both approaches have their place in programming, with declarative style often leading to more readable and maintainable code.