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In my opinion dataflow is the only true representation of computations. Unlike normal code, it represents dependencies and parallel computation perfectly. Becau

In my opinion dataflow is the only true representation of computations. Unlike normal code, it represents dependencies and parallel computation perfectly. Because of this, it is also a great basis for a hardware implementation.

BubRoss 7y ago
Graphs are good for seeing dependencies and ordering, but not great for branching and looping.
- DonaldFisk 7y ago
  Although in conventional languages with control flow, we're more used to how they're done, both branching and looping can be done straightforwardly in dataflow without introducing any non-dataflow constructs - just graphs with vertices connected by edges. Branching: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Conditional.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Conditional.html Looping: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Iteration.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Iteration.html Emit and collect: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Macros.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Macros.html These show the basic idea. There are many other examples throughout the tutorials (http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/TOC.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/TOC.html). BTW, in case anyone's wondering why there have been no recent updates to the pages on my visual dataflow language, it's because the many improvements I've been making, particularly big changes to the type system, have required a lot more work than I expected. I haven't abandoned work on it, but it will still be some time before it's ready for release.
  - BubRoss 7y ago
    Those show that it's possible, not necessarily that it's a good interface to make those parts of programs. Houdini's shader language has had branching done in a data flow graph for a long time. Touch designer has a kind of looping construct too. You might want to take a look at these domain specific interfaces if you are doing your own graph, they are well done. Fundamentally though, the density of text expressions exceeds a data flow graph by a huge margin. If what is being done isn't fundamentally a directed acyclic graph, visualizing it with a graph becomes more difficult to absorb than the expressions as text.

BubRoss 7y ago

Graphs are good for seeing dependencies and ordering, but not great for branching and looping.

DonaldFisk 7y ago
Although in conventional languages with control flow, we're more used to how they're done, both branching and looping can be done straightforwardly in dataflow without introducing any non-dataflow constructs - just graphs with vertices connected by edges. Branching: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Conditional.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Conditional.html Looping: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Iteration.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Iteration.html Emit and collect: http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Macros.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/Macros.html These show the basic idea. There are many other examples throughout the tutorials (http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/TOC.html http://www.fmjlang.co.uk/fmj/tutorials/TOC.html). BTW, in case anyone's wondering why there have been no recent updates to the pages on my visual dataflow language, it's because the many improvements I've been making, particularly big changes to the type system, have required a lot more work than I expected. I haven't abandoned work on it, but it will still be some time before it's ready for release.
- BubRoss 7y ago
  Those show that it's possible, not necessarily that it's a good interface to make those parts of programs. Houdini's shader language has had branching done in a data flow graph for a long time. Touch designer has a kind of looping construct too. You might want to take a look at these domain specific interfaces if you are doing your own graph, they are well done. Fundamentally though, the density of text expressions exceeds a data flow graph by a huge margin. If what is being done isn't fundamentally a directed acyclic graph, visualizing it with a graph becomes more difficult to absorb than the expressions as text.