01 Flow-Based Programming (FBP) is a new/old approach to 
02 application development, based on processes and data 
03 flows. Some of its roots can be traced all the way back 
04 to the early days of computing, and yet it offers solutions to many of the most pressing problems facing application development today. Interestingly, an early version of this software and methodology has been in continuous use for over 30 years processing millions of transactions a day for a large bank. 
05 FBP views applications as networks of processes 
06 communicating by means of streams of data objects 
07 travelling across "bounded buffer" connections. 
08 Processes access their connections indirectly, via 
09 "ports", so components can be black boxes, able to be 
10 reused in different arrangements to produce different 
11 applications, without having to be changed internally. 
12 FBP is thus naturally component-oriented.  It also 
13 performs extremely well, frequently resulting in reduced 
14 elapsed times compared with conventional methodologies.
15 While many of FBP's concepts have been discovered 
16 independently, the combination is unique and implies a 
17 definite paradigm shift in the way in which applications 
18 are developed and, more importantly, maintained.  
19 The result has proven its effectiveness by having been 
20 in continuous use in a very dynamic and demanding 
21 environment for over 3 decades.