A history of data-flow languages

Data-flow refers both to a language-level paradigm of computation and to a family of processor architectures based on this paradigm. This article elaborates data-flow language issues and the evolution of data-flow languages. In considering limits to the expressive power of these languages, underlying architectural issues are discussed. Although the article attempts to present a complete history of data-flow languages, it concentrates on those languages that specifically belong to this class and have been implemented for a data-flow machine. In many cases, the distinctions between issues of language semantics and machine architecture are unclear. Usually we have found that this reflects the evolution of data-flow, and the close association between language and architecture development. In some sections of the article, it may appear that there is an imbalance in the amount of detail presented when compared with other sections. This imbalance is proportional to the publications and the amount of information readily available for the topics.<>