The implementation and use of a generic dataflow behaviour in Erlang

Abstract

We propose a new "generic" abstraction for Erlang/OTP that aids in the implementation of dataflow programming languages and models on the Erlang VM. This abstraction simplifies the implementation of "processing elements" in dataflow languages by providing a simple callback interface in the style of the gen_server and gen_fsm abstractions. We motivate the use of this new abstraction by examining the implementation of a distributed dataflow programming variant called Lasp.