Understanding Dataflow Graphs for C++ Performance Analysis

On a fundamental level, any kind of profiling (or other measurement) is going to tell you what is slow, but not necessarily why.

Dataflow graphs give us a way to see the actual computational dependencies in our code, which is crucial for understanding performance bottlenecks.

The key insight is that performance problems often stem from data dependencies that aren't immediately obvious from reading the source code.

By constructing a dataflow graph, we can visualize the actual flow of data through our program and identify opportunities for optimization.

This approach moves beyond just measuring execution time to understanding the fundamental computational structure of our code.