 | This article may have confusing or ambiguous abbreviations. (November 2011) |
| Paradigm | Dataflow, Declarative, Synchronous |
|---|---|
| Developer | Inria (Espresso team) |
| First appeared | 1980s |
SIGNAL is a programming language based on synchronized dataflow (flows + synchronization): a process is a set of equations on elementary flows describing both data and control.[1]
The SIGNAL formal model provides the capability to describe systems with several clocks[2][3] (polychronous systems) as relational specifications. Relations are useful as partial specifications and as specifications of non-deterministic devices (for instance a non-deterministic bus) or external processes (for instance an unsafe car driver).
Using SIGNAL allows one to specify[4] an application, to design an architecture, to refine detailed components down to RTOS[clarification needed] or hardware description. The SIGNAL model supports a design methodology which goes from specification to implementation, from abstraction to concretization, from synchrony to asynchrony.
SIGNAL has been mainly developed in INRIAEspresso team since the 1980s, at the same time as similar programming languages, Esterel and Lustre.
- ^ P. Le Guernic, T. Gautier, M. Le Borgne, and C. Le Maire. Programming Real-Time Applications with SIGNAL. Proceedings of the IEEE, 79(9): 1321-1336, September 1991.
- ^ P. Le Guernic, J.-P. Talpin, and J.-C. Le Lann. Polychrony for system design. Journal for Circuits, Systems and Computers, Special Issue on Application Specific Hardware Design, World Scientific, April 2003 (also available as INRIA Research Report 4715, 2003).
- ^ A. Gamatié and T. Gautier. The SIGNAL Synchronous Multiclock Approach to the Design of Distributed Embedded Systems. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 21(5): 641-657, May 2010.
- ^ A. Gamatié. Designing Embedded Systems with the SIGNAL Programming Language: Synchronous, Reactive Specification. ISBN 978-1-4419-0940-4. Book edited by Springer - New York, 260 pages, 2010.