data flow
A data flow architecture or language performs a computation when all the
operands are available. Data flow is one kind of data driven architecture, the
other is demand driven. It is a technique for specifying parallel computation at
a fine-grain level, usually in the form of two-dimensional graphs in which
instructions that are available for concurrent execution are written alongside
each other while those that must be executed in sequence are written one under
the other. Data dependencies between instructions are indicated by directed
arcs. Instructions do not reference memory since the data dependence arcs allow
data to be transmitted directly from the producing instruction to the consuming
one.
Data flow schemes differ chiefly in the way that they handle re-entrant code.
Static schemes disallow it, dynamic schemes use either "code copying" or
"tagging" at every point of reentry.
An example of a data flow architecture is MIT's VAL machine.
Nearby terms:
Data Encryption Algorithm « Data Encryption Key « Data
Encryption Standard « data flow » data flow analysis
» Data Flow Diagram » data fork
