> you lose the ability to read a whole procedure from top to bottom An ability that is only valuable if it really is a procedure, some sequence of operations,

> you lose the ability to read a whole procedure from top to bottom An ability that is only valuable if it really is a procedure, some sequence of operations, rather than a function, some forming of a value. I'd agree that procedures should generally not be split up into subprocedures; a procedure has to be read from top to bottom, so factoring out subprocedures only makes it harder to understand. But a function can be understood without understanding the smaller functions that it calls, so breaking functions up into smaller functions - and breaking small functions out of procedures, where possible - makes it easier to understand. Having a language that makes an explicit distinction between procedures and functions - in particular, where calling a procedure looks different from calling a function - helps a lot (e.g. Haskell).