DataFlow is the most Macish programming language written to date. The
mouse is used for all operations except typing in numbers. DataFlow
programming is a cross between flowcharting and electronic circuit
design. While symbols similar to common flowcharts are used, the
program behaves more like an electric circuit where numeric 'tokens'
replace current going through wires.
DataFlow version 0.0 was designed mainly to show the concepts and
shortcommings of Dataflow rather than as a useful tool. For this
reason, many important features such as subroutines, arrays,
structures, strings, and even load/save were not implemented. Large
high-performance computers have been designed to run DataFlow,
however. These machines have an architecture completely different from
the Von Neuman architecture used by the the vast majority of machines
today. If you are interested in DataFlow, the February, 1982 issue of
COMPUTER magazine was devoted to this subject. This can be found in
any good library which receives computer science journals.
