Differences between Procedural and Object Oriented Programming

Rumman Ansari   Software Engineer   2025-08-09 04:30:46   3646  Share
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What is Procedural Programming?

You can define Procedural Programming as a programming model derived from structural programming. It follows the concept of the calling procedure. The procedures, also called functions, routines, or subroutines, consist of a series of computational steps that they need to carry out. During the execution of a program, one can call any given procedure at any point- either by other procedures or by itself.

Procedural Programming Languages – BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, ALGOL, Pascal, and C.

Definition

The programming language that breaks down a programming assignment into a group of variables, data structures and subprograms is called procedure-oriented programming language.


Principles of Procedure-Oriented Programming

POP depends on the following principles:

It follows a top-down approach.

2. It divides a large program into smaller programs known as functions or methods.

3. It gives step by step instructions for execution.


Advantages of Procedure-Oriented Programming

Following are the advantages of Procedure-Oriented Programming:

1. There are a lot of reliable and tested algorithms.

2. Program flow is easy to follow and understand.

3. A smaller amount of memory is required as compared to other programming languages.

4. It uses functions.

5. The programs can be executed on different types of processors.


Disadvantages of Procedure-Oriented Programming

Following are the disadvantages of Procedure-Oriented Programming:

1. Methods are shared globally, hence more debugging is required in programs wherever that method is used.

2. It emphasises more on the operation rather than data, thus exposing the data to the entire source code. It reduces the data security.

3. It is hard to correlate it with real-world objects.


What is Object Oriented Programming?

You can define Object Oriented Programming as a programming model that follows the concept of objects. The objects contain codes in the form of methods and data in the form of attributes. In the case of Object Oriented Programming, it designs computer programs by using the concept of the objects interacting with the real world. There are various Object Oriented Programming languages. But the most popular ones among all are class-based. It means that the objects are instances of the classes determining their types.

Object Oriented Programming Languages – Java, Python, C#, C++, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Dart, Perl, Swift, Scala, Objective.

Definition

A programming model that depends on the theory of classes and objects, and gives importance on data rather than functions. is known as Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).


Differences between Procedural and Object Oriented Programming

Here's a tabular representation of the key differences between procedural and object-oriented programming:

Feature Procedural Programming Object-Oriented Programming
Paradigm Focuses on procedures or routines. Focuses on objects.
Organization Structured around procedures/functions. Structured around objects.
Data and Functions Data and functions are separate entities. Data and functions are encapsulated within objects.
Code Reusability Achieved through functions. Achieved through inheritance and polymorphism.
Encapsulation Limited support for encapsulation. Fundamental principle; data is hidden and accessed through interfaces.
Inheritance Generally lacks the concept of inheritance. Supports inheritance for code reuse and hierarchy.
Polymorphism Achieved through function overloading or similar techniques. Supports polymorphism through method overloading and overriding.
Flexibility and Extensibility May be less flexible and extensible as the codebase grows. Provides a natural way to model real-world entities, enhancing flexibility and extensibility.
Example Languages C, Pascal. Java, Python, C++.
Real-World Analogy Similar to a recipe where each step is performed in sequence. Similar to assembling and interacting with objects in the real world.

This table summarizes the main distinctions between procedural and object-oriented programming, providing a quick reference for understanding their differences.


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