5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Modular Programming | Drawbacks & Benefits of Modular Programming

Modular programming is a concept where a large program is divided into smaller components that can be assigned with a task separately. These portions of program is known as Modules. Think of these modules as a block. Each of these modules can be stacked together which builds the entire architecture known as the application. 

Functions are categorized according to their resemblance. Identical functions are separately arranged and other different functions are kept as units. The latter is allowed to reuse with other programs. Techniques of modular programming language is used in some of the popular programming languages like Java, C++ etc... 

The ultimate aim of modular programming is to conveniently work across larger software applications. It is one of the key programming concept for many developers. However, it aren't flawless. Developers must understand all the pros that modular programming offers and cons of it. 

In this article, I will be examining about 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Modular Programming | Drawbacks & Benefits of Modular Programming. From this post, you will know the pros and cons of modular programming. 

Let's get started,

Advantages of Modular Programming

1. Simplicity

User defined functions are included in modular programming. Each of these functions are assigned with a different task. These kind of functionality makes the code easy to read. However, the functions must be properly defined with neat and clean structure.

2. Collaboration

Modular programming concept enables collaboration approach in programming. Instead of one single person, large team of developers are involved in creating the program. Each of these developers will be handling different parts of the code, so that a big project is broken down into smaller components. The tasks are assigned according to the functions, repositories or files. 

3. Code Reusability

There can be instances where a developer need to use the same code on multiple places. Under this situation, modularity comes with a unique code reusability feature. Rather than copying and pasting, the codes can be simply added to the places we want. Besides reusing the functionality and methods, the need of writing a program from the scratch is eliminated.

4. Error Identification

The modules in modular programming is individually split into several parts which is allocated with specific sets of codes. This makes it easier to test and debug larger programs by looking at the codes. The programmer already knows which part of the code carries the mentioned error. They don't need to waste time searching every single line of code.

5. Task Executive

Many programmers are involved in the completion of a large project. Individual modules are worked separately. Thus, the speed at which the programs are developed is also increased.

Disadvantages of Modular Programming

1. Performance

Generally, there are more lines of code in modular programming. Hence, it is necessary to remove dead codes off your dependencies. Otherwise, it can affect the performance of the application.

2. Security

There exists strong security in monolithic codes. Hacking and pirating is almost impossible in these codes. This kind of security features are absent in modular programming.

3. Module Integration

People involved in the design of modules may follow different styles. Therefore, integrating modules into applications will bring work differences. 

4. Testing & Debugging

Al though the modules are separated into several parts, each of them consists thousand lines of codes. This makes testing & debugging process to be extremely difficult. In other words, its time consuming.

5. Memory Consumption

Memory consumption in modular Programming is considerably higher. This is because, the tasks are repeated in some of the modules.