The Evolution of Dataflow Computers

This paper describes the evolution of dataflow computers from the first static design to the newest hybrid architectures. A few designs from each generation of dataflow computers are presented and evaluated in order to show how the next generation was designed in order to meet the deficiencies of the previous generation. 1 Introduction The majority of multiprocessor computers system is based on the von Neumann style processors. These processors use a program counter to sequence the execution of instructions in a program. This sequential execution style may make it difficult to exploit parallelism in a program. Arvind and Iannucci identifies two fundamental issues that must be addressed to construct a successful multiprocessor [2]: Memory latency is the time between issuing a memory request and receiving the corresponding response. This latency may be quite large when the referenced data item is situated in a non-local memory module. In order to avoid idling the processor, one usually..