Post on 16-May-2015
Flow-based programmingAn overview
VisuFlow Stockholm Meetup #1
Samuel Lampa@smllmp
+samuellampasaml.rilspace.org
Developer atwww.uppmax.uu.sewww.farmbio.uu.sewww.rilpartner.se
What is this?
- A call graph! (of my little go app)
What is this?
What if we could take control of this...…and define the graph declaratively? Wow! :)
FBP Inventor J. Paul Morrison
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Invented at the 60's at IBM
The flow based programming book- A must read
→ tinyurl.com/fbpbook
“In computer programming, flowbased programming (FBP) is a programming paradigm that defines applications as networks of "black box" processes, which exchange data across predefined connections by message passing, where the connections are specified externally to the processes. These black box processes can be reconnected endlessly to form different applications without having to be changed internally. FBP is thus naturally componentoriented”
Wikipedia
FBP vs DataFlow
“FBP is a particular form of dataflow programming based on bounded buffers, information packets with defined lifetimes, named ports, and separate definition of connections.
Wikipedia
An array of benefits ...● Change of connection wiring
without rewriting components
● Inherently concurrent - suited for the multi-core CPU world!
● Testing, monitoring and logging very easy: Just plug in a mock-, logging- or debugging component.
● Etc.qq
Many similar tools: Unix pipes
Many similar tools: LabView
Many similar tools: Yahoo Pipes
Many similar tools: Apple Quartz Composer
Implementations
● Java (JavaFBP)● C# (C#FBP)● C++ (Dspatch, Blockie.io) ● Javascript (NoFlo, Node Red)● Go (GoFlow)● Python (PaPy)● Common lisp● Shell script (net2sh)● D (Dendrite)● …?
Resurgence in FBP interest with NoFlo
NoFlo creator Henri Bergius
NoFlo summary
● Based on Node.js● Written in coffeescript● 237 reusable components● Successful (116% of 100k USD) Kickstarter for
in-browser UI● FBP definition format in JSON● Proof-of concept:
Re-implementation of Jekyll Static site generator: 16 000 LOC 107 components→(4 custom ones of ~500 LOC, rest re-usable!)
Book on Data Flow, FBP and Reactive Programming
Node-RED
Blockie.io
My adventures in GoFlow
My adventures in GoFlow: Network
My adventures in GoFlow: Component
My adventures in GoFlow: Aspiring bioinformatics library :)
Some links
● Main website:
www.jpaulmorrison.com/fbp● Mailing list:
tinyurl.com/fbplist● Google+:
gplus.to/flowbased
Thank you!