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A control flow chart is a visual representation of a program’s code paths. It can help identify unnecessary code, detect infinite loops, and establish an order of evaluation. The chart can be generated automatically and may vary in appearance.
A control flow chart (CFG) is a visual representation of the various paths that the code of a computer program can follow. A CFG is composed of a series of symbols, called nodes, which are connected by arrows showing the path that each can lead to the next node. Each node represents one or more significant lines of programming code. There are several ways to render a CFG, but they are all generally read the same way. In appearance, a control flowchart is no different from a flowchart.
One of the main purposes of creating a control flow chart is to find out if there are parts of a computer program that are not needed. This can be easily achieved by looking at the control flow chart. Any node that does not have an arrow pointing connects it to the rest of the nodes can be removed.
Another purpose of a control flow graph is to help isolate problems such as infinite loops, where program execution does not move beyond a single node. Each arrow on the diagram shows which condition must be met to move to the node you point to, so situations where that condition is never met can be detected, because it causes the program to repeatedly go back to the previous node.
Finally, a control flow graph can help create a program dependency graph. This type of graph shows which areas of a program depend on other parts. In computer science, it is used to establish an order of evaluation by making sure that the code of the program is executed in the correct sequence.
The visual nature of a control flow graph is one of the features that can make it potentially valuable. Pieces of code that are never directly called or accessed will be quite obvious, because there will be no arrows linking it to the main program or conditions will show that can never be met to reach the Code. There are computer programs that can automatically generate a control flow graph based on a set of source code files, further simplifying the process.
A control flow chart can be represented in many ways and, therefore, may look different depending on who produced it. Some charts use circles or squares solely to represent nodes while others use the same shapes as a control flow chart. standard stream Although they are read in exactly the same way, the method chosen is purely personal preference.
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