Re: [boost] Flow-based programming library for Boost?

Subject: Re: [boost] Flow-based programming library for Boost?
From: Hartmut Kaiser (hartmut.kaiser_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-12-13 08:44:50

> > Is there any interest out there for a library that allows you to
> > create fast, efficient flow-based programs with an easy-to-use
> > object-oriented interface?
> > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow-based_programming)
> >
> > I've created an open-source library that does this, called "DSPatch" (
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspatch) and would like to contribute
> > it to the Boost Libraries.
> >
> > Please let me know if this sounds like something you'd like to see in
> Boost.
> 
> If you want such a library to be truly efficient, you should be able to
> wire together the dataflows at compile-time and not pay any overhead for
> composing large computations out of smaller ones.  The accumulators
> library uses something like a dataflow model, with the "wiring" done
> completely at compile-time.

That's definitely one use case. In our experience it is much more important
to compose the dataflow graph at runtime, though. Mainly, most of the time
we don't know the shape of the dataflow graph to be constructed at compile
time yet.

Regards Hartmut
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