Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

data flow analysis
     
         A process to discover the dependencies between
        different data items manipulated by a program.  The order of
        execution in a {data driven} language is determined solely by
        the data dependencies.  For example, given the equations
     
        	1. X = A + B
        	2. B = 2 + 2
        	3. A = 3 + 4
     
        a data-flow analysis would find that 2 and 3 must be evaluated
        before 1.  Since there are no data dependencies between 2 and
        3, they may be evaluated in any order, including in parallel.
     
        This technique is implemented in {hardware} in some
        {pipelined} processors with multiple {functional units}.  It
        allows instructions to be executed as soon as their inputs are
        available, independent of the original program order.
     
        (1996-05-13)