Editing Directed acyclic graph (section)

=== Data processing networks ===
A directed acyclic graph may be used to represent a network of processing elements. In this representation, data enters a processing element through its incoming edges and leaves the element through its outgoing edges.

For instance, in electronic circuit design, static [[combinational logic]] blocks can be represented as an acyclic system of [[logic gate]]s that computes a function of an input, where the input and output of the function are represented as individual [[bit]]s. In general, the output of these blocks cannot be used as the input unless it is captured by a register or state element which maintains its acyclic properties.<ref>{{citation|title=Timing|first=Sachin|last=Sapatnekar|publisher=Springer|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4020-7671-8|page=133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL9k-VkZVr0C&pg=PA133}}.</ref> Electronic circuit schematics either on paper or in a database are a form of directed acyclic graphs using instances or components to form a directed reference to a lower level component. Electronic circuits themselves are not necessarily acyclic or directed.

[[Dataflow programming]] languages describe systems of operations on [[data stream]]s, and the connections between the outputs of some operations and the inputs of others. These languages can be convenient for describing repetitive data processing tasks, in which the same acyclically-connected collection of operations is applied to many data items. They can be executed as a [[parallel algorithm]] in which each operation is performed by a parallel process as soon as another set of inputs becomes available to it.<ref>{{citation|title=Programming Symposium|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|volume=19|year=1974|pages=362–376|contribution=First version of a data flow procedure language|first=Jack B.|last=Dennis|doi=10.1007/3-540-06859-7_145|isbn=978-3-540-06859-4}}.</ref>

In [[compiler]]s, straight line code (that is, sequences of statements without loops or conditional branches) may be represented by a DAG describing the inputs and outputs of each of the arithmetic operations performed within the code. This representation allows the compiler to perform [[common subexpression elimination]] efficiently.<ref>{{citation|title=Advanced Backend Optimization|first1=Sid|last1=Touati|first2=Benoit|last2=de Dinechin|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2014|isbn=978-1-118-64894-0|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nO2-AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123}}.</ref> At a higher level of code organization, the [[acyclic dependencies principle]] states that the dependencies between modules or components of a large software system should form a directed acyclic graph.<ref>{{citation|title=Large-Scale Software Architecture: A Practical Guide using UML|first1=Jeff|last1=Garland|first2=Richard|last2=Anthony|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2003|isbn=9780470856383|page=215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2oQLLSqZ88C&pg=PA215}}.</ref>

[[Feedforward neural network]]s are another example.