Dataflow packages like AVS, SGI Explorer and Data Explorer from IBM supply a module library and a network manager to interactively combine modules to a program. Data is modified at each module node and then passed over connections to other nodes. This concept is different to GRAPE's object-oriented mechanism where a current object exists (i. e. the currently marked branch of the data hierarchy) to which methods are sent again and again until a problem is solved. GRAPE's technique is best when analyzing a problem without prior knowledge which sequence of methods could solve it, while the hardwired AVS-style networks are best when work has to be done over and over again in a fixed order.
GRAPE does neither compete with data viewers like Geomview since it offers a mathematical programming environment nor with formula packages like Mathematica which do not contain advanced interactive three dimensional graphics.
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