Programming Paradigms

Programming Paradigms

Paradigm means organizing principle of a program. It is an approach to programming. There are different approaches available for problem solving using computer. They are Procedural programming, Modular Programming and Object Oriented Programming

Procedural programming

Procedural means a list of instructions were given to the computer to do something. Procedural programming aims more at procedures. This emphasis on doing things.

Important features of procedural programming

• Programs are organized in the form of subroutines or sub programs

• All data items are global

• Suitable for small sized software application

• Difficult to maintain and enhance the program code as any change in data type needs to be propagated to all subroutines that use the same data type. This is time consuming.

• Example: FORTRAN and COBOL.

Modular programming

Modular programming consist of a list of instructions that instructs the computer to do something. But this Paradigm consists of multiple modules, each module has a set of functions of related types. Data is hidden under the modules. Arrangement of data can be changed only by modifying the module

Important features of Modular programming

• Emphasis on algorithm rather than data

• Programs are divided into individual modules

• Each modules are independent of each other and have their own local data

• Modules can work with its own data as well as with the data passed to it.

• Example: Pascal and C

Object Oriented Programming

Object Oriented Programming paradigm emphasizes on the data rather than the algorithm. It implements programs using classes and objects.

Class: A Class is a construct in C++ which is used to bind data and its associated function together into a single unit using the encapsulation concept. Class is a user defined data type. Class represents a group of similar objects.

It can also be defined as a template or blueprint representing a group objects that share common properties and relationship.

Objects: Represents data and its associated function together into a single unit. Objects are the basic unit of OOP. Basically an object is created from a class. They are instances of class also called as class variables

An identifiable entity with some characteristics and behaviour is called object.

Important features of Object oriented programming

• Emphasizes on data rather than algorithm

• Data abstraction is introduced in addition to procedural abstraction

• Data and its associated operations are grouped in to single unit

• Programs are designed around the data being operated

• Relationships can be created between similar, yet distinct data types

• Example: C++, Java, VB.Net, Python etc.