Any API can have issues, but an imperative api has some advantages in my opinion. The boundaries of an imperative api are atomic and easily well-defined. When

Any API can have issues, but an imperative api has some advantages in my opinion. The boundaries of an imperative api are atomic and easily well-defined. When something goes wrong, it is possible to look at the methods individually and figure out exactly where expectations and reality diverged. With a declarative system you just put out everything there as one big chunk of state and hope the right thing happens. When the wrong thing happens, it's usually not clear if the problem is a bug with the engine or your understanding of it, and also not clear how to go about determining where the problem is. To be clear, I am not totally against declarative systems, but I would be hesitant to use any declarative system if it isn't mature and well-tested, documented with priority, and in a space where the use cases are predictable.