> there's actually a surprisingly simple and useful definition of declarative language: a declarative language is any language with a semantics [that] has some nontrivial existential quantifiers in it. What Declarative Languages Are

But now I must ask, even after reading it, what is an “existential quantifier” and what is the distinction between trivial and non-trivial ones?

Lovely. Existential quantifiers are a standard part of predicate logic. "Trivial" seems a little dicier, yeah. I assume triviality means something like it's guaranteed to always exist and be easy to find. But I'd honestly be fine with a definition where declarativity itself is a sliding scale depending on the triviality of the existential quantifier. On that basis I might still count functional programs as only slightly declarative...

That link works a lot better as https://semantic-domain.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-declarative-languages-are.html (sans ?m=1) – the math actually shows up.

Oh thanks! I'd edit the post, but slack is awful. Edit: either my phone is goofed, or the website automatically adds ?m=1 because I'm on my mobile.

I’m sorry to hear all these things you are saying