The phrase “Frameworks are declarative, not imperative” highlights a fundamental difference in how frameworks handle programming tasks.
In a declarative approach, developers describe what they want the program to achieve, and the framework takes care of the underlying process to accomplish it. This approach abstracts away low-level details, allowing developers to focus on defining outcomes rather than how to implement them. For example, in React, developers specify the desired user interface state through components and JSX, and React manages updates efficiently using its virtual DOM.
In contrast, the imperative approach requires developers to explicitly define how to achieve a task, often leading to more detailed, step-by-step instructions. While this provides control, it can make the code verbose and harder to maintain, especially in large-scale applications.
Frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js lean towards the declarative paradigm because it simplifies coding, improves readability, and enhances maintainability. For instance, updating a UI element in React only requires updating the state, and the framework automatically handles DOM manipulation.
By being declarative, frameworks empower developers to write cleaner, more expressive code that focuses on the what instead of the how, reducing complexity and enabling a better developer experience.