data flow

1 definition found

data flow - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  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.