proced

Proced is a term that appears chiefly as an informal shorthand for the word procedure or for the broader concept of procedural programming. It is not a formal keyword or standard in mainstream programming languages, and you are more likely to encounter it in comments, notes, or casual discussion rather than as a defined language feature.

In programming, a procedure refers to a subroutine or block of code that performs a task. Procedures are typically invoked by name and may accept parameters, but many languages distinguish them from functions by noting that procedures do not return a value (or return through a side effect). The procedural paradigm centers on composing programs from these procedure calls, focusing on sequences of operations and the flow of control rather than objects or data structures alone.

The term procedural relates to the broader paradigm of procedural programming, which organizes software around procedures that manipulate data. This contrasts with other paradigms such as object-oriented programming, which centers on objects, or functional programming, which emphasizes mathematical functions and immutability.

Language usage varies: some languages use specific keywords to declare procedures (for example, Tcl uses the keyword proc to define a procedure), while others treat subroutines as functions with explicit return values. Because “proced” is not a formally standardized term, its meaning is highly dependent on context and is generally understood as shorthand for a procedure or for procedural concepts.

See also procedural programming, procedure, subroutine, function.