When is procedural programming used?

Programming Paradigm Concepts

Eleanor Thomas

Senior Data Analytics Engineer

Typical applications for procedural programming

Commonly used in general-purpose programming languages
Makes sense when problems naturally break down into steps
Great for automating data preparation processes
Used in building websites
Any kind of coding task where the problem can be defined step-by-step and broken up into subtasks

Three pictures depicting data preparation, programming websites, subtasks

Procedural programming example

price_in_cents = 500
price_in_dollars = price_in_cents / 100

discount = 0.20
final_price = price_in_dollars * (1 - discount)
print("The final price is: $", final_price)

Start with the price in cents
Convert to dollars
Apply a discount
Print the result

Pros and cons of procedural programming

PROS

Benefits modularity, reducing overall amount of code and saving time
More straightforward than other paradigms, accessible, commonly used with a lot of educational resources available
Highly flexible and appropriate for many use cases

CONS

Can be less secure than other paradigms due to how data is moved around
Code is rarely reusable between projects
Focus is on the operations to be done with the data rather than the integrity of the data

Procedural programming vs. imperative programming

Procedural programming is imperative programming, but not all imperative programming is procedural
All imperative programming makes use of step-by-step instructions on how to execute
Procedural programming specifically makes use of procedures (or subroutines) to organize code and dictate the flow of the program

Flow chart diagram

Let's practice!

Programming Paradigm Concepts