What is Procedural Programming?

The first model that a developer learns is procedural programming. Procedural programming, in its most basic form, is the code that tells a device how to complete a task in logical steps. Procedural programming divides a program into procedures, which are sometimes known as routines or functions and consist of a set of activities to be performed. This paradigm adopts a top-down linear approach, treating data and procedures as two separate things.

A procedural programming paradigm is enabled by programming languages such as Haskell, C, Pascal, Fortran, and BASIC.

Procedural Programming Traits

The main traits of procedural programming include:

Modularity

Modularity occurs when two independent systems, each with its own set of goals, are brought together to complete a larger task first. The tasks of each group of systems would then be completed one by one until all tasks were completed.

Global Variable

A global variable is a variable that is declared independently of all other functions in the code. As a result, unlike a local variable, global variables can be used in any function.

Predefined Functions

A predefined function is an instruction that is defined by a name. Predefined functions are usually built into higher-level programming languages, however, they are retrieved from a library or registry rather than from the application. “charAt()” is an example of a predefined function that searches for a character's location in a string.

Local Variable

A local variable is defined in the method's main structure and is limited to the local scope to which it is assigned. It can only be used in the method for which it was created. If it’s used outside of that function, the code will stop working.

Parameter Passing

The technique of parameter passing is used to pass parameters to functions, procedures, or subroutines. "Pass by value," "pass by reference," "pass by result," "pass by value-result," and "pass by name" are all methods for passing parameters.

Procedural Programming vs. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Procedural programming is different from object-oriented programming (OOP) in that it is mostly concerned with functions, whereas OOP is primarily concerned with objects.

OOP is a top-down programming approach that makes use of the notion of objects to interact with the real world. The object-oriented programming paradigm is employed by the majority of commonly used programming languages, including C++, Python, and Java. OOP stores data in the form of fields of attributes and codes in objects in the form of procedures or methods. Below you’ll find the main distinction between these two programming techniques.

Origin

The declarative programming paradigm is connected to the OOP paradigm, whereas the procedural programming paradigm is derived from the imperative programming model.

Focus

The procedural programming paradigm is based on algorithms, which are mainly concerned with the storage, manipulation, and administration of data.

The object-oriented programming paradigm, on the other hand, focuses on the objects that developers desire to manipulate rather than the logic that is required to manipulate them.

Approach

Procedural programming takes a top-down approach to solve problems, breaking down a large and complex problem into smaller chunks that might be investigated separately. 

A bottom-up approach, on the other hand, is used in object-oriented programming, which requires assembling smaller portions to create a larger object. 

The procedural programming and object-oriented programming approaches are diametrically opposed.

Working Mechanism

The basic concept of procedural programming is to break down a tough problem into smaller sections that are easier to understand, handle, and manage.

Object-oriented programming, on the other hand, focuses on the objects that will be processed rather than the method or logic that will be used to process them.

Division of Programs

The procedural programming paradigm divides a program into functions or code chunks. In this paradigm, the function is the programming unit. 

The OOP paradigm divides the program into various objects of classes, with the class serving as the programming unit.

Memory Requirement

The procedural programming paradigm operates with a very small amount of memory.

Object-oriented programming, on the other hand, needs a vast amount of memory.

Storage of Data

Data and related activity are stored in a single location in an object-oriented programming paradigm, whereas they are divided and stored in numerous regions in a procedural programming paradigm.

Besides, the procedural programming paradigm does not support parallel programming, while the object-oriented programming model does.

Communication

Code is communicated by invoking the program's function in the procedural programming paradigm.

In OOP, on the other hand, objects communicate with one another by passing messages.

Debugging and Repurposing Code

Debugging procedural programming is difficult while debugging object-oriented programming is basic and simple. In addition, when compared to procedural programming, object-oriented programming allows for far easier code reuse.