procedural language - technical definition

A programming language that requires programming discipline, such as C/C++, Java, COBOL, FORTRAN, Perl and JavaScript. Also called an "imperative language," programmers writing in such languages must develop a proper order of actions in order to solve the problem, based on a knowledge of data processing and programming. Contrast with non-procedural language.

The following dBASE examples show procedural and non-procedural ways to list a file. Procedural and non-procedural languages are also considered third and fourth-generation languages.

    Procedural (3GL)        Non-Procedural (4GL)
    USE FILEX               USE FILEX
    DO WHILE .NOT. EOF      LIST NAME, AMOUNTDUE
      ? NAME, AMOUNTDUE
      SKIP
    ENDDO