Difference between control flow and data flow

Control flow deals with orderly processing of individual, isolated tasks, these tasks are linked through precedence constraints in random order. Also the output for task has finite outcome i.e., Success, Failure, or Completion. A subsequent task does not initiate unless its predecessor has completed. Data flow, on the other hand, streams the data in pipeline manner from its source to a destination and modifying it in between by applying transformations. Another distinction between them is the absence of a mechanism that would allow direct transfer of data between individual control flow tasks. On the other hand, data flow lacks nesting capabilities provided by containers.

	Control Flow	Data Flow
	Process Oriented	Data Oriented
Made up of	Tasks and Container	Source, Transformation and Destination
Connected through	Precedence constraint	Paths
Smallest unit	Task	Component
Outcome	Finite- Success, Failure, Completion	Not fixed