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(a) an if-then-else
(b) a while loop
(c) a natural loop with two exits, e.g. while with an if...break in the middle; non-structured but reducible
(d) an irreducible CFG: a loop with two entry points, e.g. goto into a while or for loop
In computer science, a control-flow graph (CFG) is a representation, using graph notation, of all paths that might be traversed through a program during its execution. The control-flow graph was discovered by Frances E. Allen,[1] who noted that Reese T. Prosser used boolean connectivity matrices for flow analysis before.[2]
The CFG is essential to many compiler optimizations and static-analysis tools.
- ^ Frances E. Allen (July 1970). "Control flow analysis". SIGPLAN Notices. 5 (7): 1–19. doi:10.1145/390013.808479.
- ^ Reese T. Prosser (1959). "Applications of Boolean matrices to the analysis of flow diagrams". Papers presented at the December 1–3, 1959, eastern joint IRE-AIEE-ACM computer conference. pp. 133–138. doi:10.1145/1460299.1460314.