Characteristics of procedure-oriented programming:

• Emphasis is on doing things (algorithms).
• Large programs are divided into smaller programs known as functions.
• Most of the functions share global data.
• Data move openly around the system from function to function.
• Functions transform data from one form to another.
• Employs top-down approach in program design.

POP has two major drawbacks, namely

• Data moves freely around the program and therefore vulnerable to changes caused by any function in the program
• POP does not model the real world problems very well. This is because functions are action-oriented and do not really correspond to the elements of the problem.