The dataflow language DFLang

The dataflow language is the bridge between the call by need lambda calculus and a dataflow graph. It retains aspects of both but is neither completely. It is represented as a sequence of let assignments, where the right hand side of the assignment is always a call of a stateful function or dataflow operator. Multiple arguments can be given to this call, however they must always be references to either a locally (let) bound value, or an environment reference.

It is thus much more restricted than the algorithm language because it does not support lambdas, and the RHS of let is not an arbitrary expression.

The dataflow language is defined in Ohua.DFLang.Lang.

Writing DFLang

It is sometime necessary (in particular for tests) to create DFLang values. To avoid having to write them directly in Haskell, the ohua-test-tools library includes a DFLang parser. This parser can be used in Haskell code when the QuasiQuotes extension is enabled by importing Ohua.Test and using the [embedDflang| Your dflang expression |] quasi quoter.

It supports the same style comments as the algorithm language.

An example:

let (x) (* target bindings *)
            = some.package/sf (* function reference *)
              <0> (* call site id *)
              [s] (* state source (optional) *)
              (a, b, c) (* arguments *) in
let (y, z) = dataflow other.package/a_dataflow_fn<1>() in
x
Target Bindings
A tuple of bindings that are created by this function call. The names should be unique in the expression. Always has to be a tuple, i.e. comma separated and surrounded by parentheses, even if only one value is created. Can be empty.
Function Reference
The fully qualified reference to the function being called. The syntax is namespace/functionName, i.e. ohua.lang/id. May optionally be preceded by the keyword dataflow to indicate that this is not a simple function but a dataflow operator, i.e. translates to the nodeType being OperatorNode.
Call Site Id
A positive integer uniquely identifying this call. Uniqueness is not checked but the behavior of the compiler is undefined if call site id’s are not unique.
State Source
A value to be used as initial state for this function. Must be specified for stateful functions and omitted for stateless functions. Can be a literal of binding (same as arguments).
Arguments
A tuple of arguments as input to the function. As with target bindings these need to be comma separated and surrounded by parentheses, but can be empty. In addition to local variables, such as a, b, myVar, numeric literals 1, 0, -4, the unit literal () and references to environment expressions are allowed as arguments. The latter are positive numbers prefixed with $, i.e. $1, $100.