What is the difference between procedural and object-oriented programming?

Procedural programming and object-oriented programming (OOP) are two different programming paradigms. Here are five key differences between them:

Paradigm:

Procedural Programming: In procedural programming, the focus is on procedures or routines that perform operations on data. It follows a step-by-step approach and emphasizes functions or procedures.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): OOP is centered around the concept of objects, which encapsulate data and the methods that operate on that data. It emphasizes the organization of code in terms of objects that interact with each other.

Data and Functions:

Procedural Programming: Data and functions are separate entities. Functions operate on data using parameters passed to them.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): Data and functions are encapsulated together within objects. Objects can contain both data (attributes) and the methods (functions) that operate on that data.

Encapsulation:

Procedural Programming: It lacks strong encapsulation. Data is often accessible globally or passed as parameters to functions.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): Encapsulation is a key principle. Data is encapsulated within objects, and access to it is controlled by methods. This helps in hiding the internal details of an object and exposing only what is necessary.

Inheritance:

Procedural Programming: Generally does not support inheritance directly. Code reuse is achieved through functions and procedures.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): Supports inheritance, allowing new classes (objects) to be created based on existing classes. This promotes code reuse and the creation of a hierarchy of classes.

Polymorphism:

Procedural Programming: Polymorphism is achieved through function overloading or using different functions with the same name but different parameters.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): Supports polymorphism at a higher level with concepts like method overloading and method overriding. It allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common base class.

In summary, procedural programming focuses on procedures and functions, while object-oriented programming revolves around the concept of objects, encapsulating data and functions within them. OOP emphasizes principles like encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism to structure and organize code.