SIGNAL (programming language)

SIGNAL is a <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming language</a> based on synchronized <a href="/facts/Dataflow/jea04eH2">dataflow</a> (flows + synchronization): a process is a set of equations on elementary flows describing both data and control.
The SIGNAL <a href="/facts/Model_of_computation/nJr8mHSI">formal model</a> provides the capability to describe systems with <a href="/facts/Multi-rate_digital_signal_processing/N2G0ezBM">several clocks</a> (polychronous systems) as <a href="/facts/Ontology_components/EIRll6sn">relational specifications</a>. Relations are useful as partial specifications and as specifications of <a href="/facts/Nondeterministic_programming/XRRlHhKn">non-deterministic</a> devices (for instance a non-deterministic <a href="/facts/Bus_(computing)/R45TKwS7">bus</a>) or external processes (for instance an unsafe car driver).
Using SIGNAL allows one to <a href="/facts/Specification/xEMUsktp">specify</a> an application, to design an <a href="/facts/Architecture/FccThs8G">architecture</a>, to refine detailed components down to <a href="/facts/RTOS/IvUCFwCL">RTOS</a> or hardware description. The SIGNAL model supports a <a href="/facts/Design_methodology/zSG0uP0f">design methodology</a> which goes from <a href="/facts/Specification/xEMUsktp">specification</a> to <a href="/facts/Implementation/IH1KXgP3">implementation</a>, from <a href="/facts/Abstraction/p7l9eHGd">abstraction</a> to <a href="/facts/Concretization/uNshak6S">concretization</a>, from <a href="/facts/Synchronization/L39sYwbr">synchrony</a> to <a href="/facts/Asynchrony_(computer_programming)/1cwyNFMu">asynchrony</a>.
SIGNAL has been mainly developed in INRIA Espresso team since the 1980s, at the same time as similar programming languages, <a href="/facts/Esterel/fUz9Ednr">Esterel</a> and <a href="/facts/Lustre_(programming_language)/l88L8T4Q">Lustre</a>.

SIGNAL (programming language) open-in-new

SIGNAL (programming language)