ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce terminology and definitions used in the remainder of the book, and formalize key dataflow concepts that were introduced intuitively in Chapter 1. We emphasize in this chapter a particular form of dataflow called homogeneous synchronous dataflow (HSDF), which is a specialized form of dataflow that we focus on in later chapters of the book. We also briefly introduce the concept of algorithmic complexity, and discuss various shortest and longest path algorithms in weighted directed graphs along with their associated complexity. These algorithms are used extensively in subsequent chapters.
