Procedural Programming

Procedural Programming

A procedural program is written as a list of instructions, telling the computer, step-by-step, what to do: Open a file, read a number, multiply by 4, display something. Program units include the main or program block, subroutines, functions, procedures; file scoping; includes/modules; libraries.

Procedural programming is fine for small projects. It is the most natural way to tell a computer what to do, and the computer processor’s own language, machine code, is procedural, so the translation of the procedural high-level language into machine code is straightforward and efficient. What is more, procedural programming has a built-in way of splitting big lists of instructions into smaller lists: the function.

Is C a procedural programming language?

Yes, C is considered a procedural programming language. This means it organizes code in a structured, step-by-step manner, using procedures or functions to perform specific tasks.

Here’s a breakdown of what makes C a procedural language:

1. Focus on Procedures: The core of C programming involves breaking down a problem into smaller, manageable tasks. These tasks are then implemented as functions (also known as procedures or subroutines).
2. Top-Down Approach: C programs are typically designed using a top-down approach. You start with the main problem and break it down into smaller and smaller pieces until they can be easily coded.
3. Sequential Execution: The program flows from one instruction to the next in a defined sequence. Control structures like loops and conditional statements are used to manage the flow of execution.
4. Data and Functions are Separate: In procedural programming, data and the functions that operate on that data are kept separate. This is a key difference from object-oriented programming (OOP), where data and the methods that manipulate it are bundled together into objects.

While C is primarily a procedural language, it’s worth noting that it’s flexible enough to be used in ways that mimic other programming paradigms. For instance, by using `structs` and function pointers, one can create structures that resemble objects in OOP. However, C lacks the built-in features of a true object-oriented language like C++ or Java.

C’s procedural nature has made it a highly influential language, known for its efficiency, portability, and low-level memory access. This has made it a popular choice for system programming, embedded systems, and operating systems.