Procedural Vs. Object Oriented Programming: What is the Difference Between Procedural and Object Oriented Programming?
Both OOP (Object Oriented Programming) and POP (Procedural Oriented Programming) are languages (high-level) in the world of programming- widely used in application development. These languages have a different approach based on the nature of code development- and thus, they work differently. Before we understand the difference between procedural and object oriented programming, let us know more about them.
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.
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.
Difference Between Procedural and Object Oriented Programming
| Parameter | Procedural Programming | Object Oriented Programming |
| Definition | This programming language makes use of a step by step approach for breaking down a task into a collection of routines (or subroutines) and variables by following a sequence of instructions. It carries out each step systematically in order so that a computer easily gets to understand what to do. | This programming language uses objects and classes for creating models based on the real-world environment. This model makes it very easy for a user to modify as well as maintain the existing code while new objects get created by inheriting the characteristics of the present ones. |
| Security | Procedural Programming does not offer any method of hiding data. Thus, it is less secure when compared to Object Oriented Programming. | Hiding data is possible with Object Oriented Programming due to the abstraction. Thus, it is more secure than the Procedural Programming. |
| Method | The main program gets divided into minute parts on the basis of the functions. It then treats them as separate programs for smaller programs individually. | It involves the concept of classes and objects. Hence, it divides the program into minute chunks known as objects. These are actually instances of classes. |
| Division of Program | Procedural Programming divides the program into small programs and refers to them as functions. | Object Oriented Programming divides the program into small parts and refers to them as objects. |
| Movement of Data | Available data is capable of moving freely within the system from one function to another. | The objects are capable of moving and communicating with each other through the member functions. |
| Approach | The Procedural Programming follows a Top-Down approach. | The Object Oriented Programming follows a Bottom-Up approach. |
| Importance | This programming model does not give importance to data. It prioritizes the functions along with the sequence of actions that needs to follow. | This programming model gives importance to the data rather than functions or procedures. It is because it works on the basis of the real world. |
| Orientation | It is Structure/Procedure oriented. | It is Object Oriented. |
| Basis | The main focus in Procedural Programming is on how to do the task, meaning, on the structure or procedure of the program. | The main focus in Object Oriented Programming is on data security. Hence, it only permits objects to access the class entities. |
| Type of Division | It divides any large program into small units called functions. | It divides the entire program into small units called objects. |
| Inheritance | It does not provide any inheritance. | It achieves inheritance in three modes- protected, private, and public. |
| Virtual Classes | There is no concept of virtual classes. | The concept of virtual functions appears at the time of inheritance. |
| Overloading | The case of overloading isn’t possible in the case of Procedural Programming. | Overloading is possible in the form of operator overloading and function overloading in the case of Object Oriented Programming. |
| Reusability of Code | No feature of reusing codes is present in Procedural Programming. | Object Oriented Programming offers the feature to reuse any existing codes in it by utilizing a feature known as inheritance. |
| Most Important Attribute | It prioritizes function over data. | It prioritizes data over function. |
| Modes of Access | The Procedural Programming offers no specific accessing mode for accessing functions or attributes in a program. | The Object Oriented Programming offers three accessing modes- protected, private, and public. These, then, serve as a share to access functions of attributes. |
| Size of Problems | It is not very suitable for solving any big or complex problems. | It is suitable for solving any big or complex problems. |
| Addition of New Function and Data | It is not very easy to add new functions and data in the Procedural Programming. | It is very easy to add new functions and data in the Object Oriented Programming. |
| Access to Data | In the Procedural Programming, most of the functions use global data for sharing. They can access freely from one function to another in any given system. | In the Object Oriented Programming, the present data cannot easily move easily from one function to another. One can keep it private or even public. Thus, a user can control the data access. |
| Data Sharing | It shares the global data among the functions present in the program. | It shares data among the objects through its member functions. |
| Data Hiding | No proper way is available for hiding the data. Thus, the data remains insecure. | It can hide data in three modes- protected, private, and public. It increases the overall data security. |
| Basis of World | The Procedural Programming follows an unreal world. | The Object Oriented programming follows the real world. |
| Friend Classes or Friend Functions | It doesn’t involve any concept of friend function. | Any class or function is capable of becoming a friend of any other class that contains the keyword “friend.”
Note – The keyword “friend” only works for C++. |
| Examples | Some common examples of Procedural Programming are C, Fortran, VB, and Pascal. | The examples of Object Oriented Programming languages are Java, C++, VB.NET, Python, and C#.NET. |
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