Procedural programming is a programming paradigm that uses a sequence of statements or instructions to execute tasks. It emphasizes the concept of procedure calls, where a program is divided into smaller, manageable sections called procedures or functions. This approach helps in organizing code, making it easier to read, maintain, and debug. In procedural programming, data and functions are separate, and the focus is on the sequence of actions to be performed. Popular languages that support this paradigm include C, Pascal, and Fortran. This method is foundational in computer science and serves as a basis for understanding more complex programming concepts.