History
Dataflow languages were originally developed in order to make parallel programming easier. In Bert Sutherland's 1966 Ph.D. thesis, The On-line Graphical Specification of Computer Procedures, Sutherland created one of the first graphical dataflow programming frameworks. Subsequent dataflow languages were often developed at the large supercomputer labs. One of the most popular was SISAL, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. SISAL looks like most statement-driven languages, but variables should be assigned once. This allows the compiler to easily identify the inputs and outputs. A number of offshoots of SISAL have been developed, including SAC, Single Assignment C, which tries to remain as close to the popular C programming language as possible.
A more radical concept is Prograph, in which programs are constructed as graphs onscreen, and variables are replaced entirely with lines linking inputs to outputs. Ironically, Prograph was originally written on the Macintosh, which remained single-processor until the introduction of the DayStar Genesis MP in 1996.
The most popular dataflow languages are more practical, the most famous being National Instruments LabVIEW. It was originally intended to make linking data between lab equipment easy for non-programmers, but has since become more general purpose. Another is VEE, optimized to use with data acquisition devices like digital voltmeters and oscilloscopes, and source devices like arbitrary waveform generators and power supplies.
Read more about this topic: Dataflow Programming
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