Procedural programming paradigm(1.2.4 b)

where code is made up of seperate blocks of code that do a specific task called procedures

using the fundamental programming constructs sequencing selection and iteration

the goto command used to be used to manually direct the flow of the program and the code was so interconnected it was really hard to follow

built on the idea that all code can be broken down into the three programming constructs, procedural takes this idea a step further by reducing long programs into a series of subroutines

should have single point of entry encourages programmer to think about what a program does

many languages use in form of subroutine called main which is automatically called when program is run main subroutine then calls other subroutines to execute the programs main tasks

the main function is self-documenting

as we start with a large problem and break it down into smaller discrete subproblems which can be solved independently key part of modular design

easier to test and debug as fewer lines of code to trace through subroutines can be called many times reducing amount of repeating code subroutines can manipulate shared data (global variables) code is reusable as subroutines can be saved in libraries and imported into programs when needed very large programs can be worked on by a whole team of programmers who can develop subroutines concurrently so that a project can be completed faster

focuses on what needs to be done rather than on the integrity of the data that it manipulates global variables often can cause issues with data integrity nothing in the procedural paradigm that truly protects data data is passed into subroutines used and sometimes modified and the programmer must be fully aware of what they should and shouldn’t do and abide by the rules of good practice to ensure data integrity