Position Paper: Validity of the Static Dataflow Approach for Exascale Computing Challenges

Instead of adhering to the common wisdom that endorses multi-threading, shared memory, and imperative programming as the only dominant models for efficient future architecture design, in this paper we argue that static dataflow is still a valid alternative model to guide the design of exascale machines. We explain our position showing how it is possible to directly map dataflow graphs onto a dataflow processor chip created with thousands of dataflow actor cores. This thanks to a demand-data driven approach to the co-design process that combines functional programming style with a dataflow model. This approach offers a valid solution to effectively and efficiently design, organize, and program dataflow machines.