resource: add async await js article

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---
authors:
- "ddivad#1337"
created_at: "2019/10/01"
title: Async Await
recommended_reading:
- javascript/promises/intro
---
## Async Await
Async / Await is another way to handle the calling of asynchronous code and is built on top of Promises. It is a nice and clean way to handle asynchronous code, without the need to `.then()` functions to the promise.
It is made up of 2 keywords as the name suggests: `async` and `await`. These need to be used together and can for this method to work.
## Async
The `async` keyword is used to show that the function is going to return a promise. Any return values from the function will be converted to a promise automatically, if they are not already.
```js
async function foo() {
return "foo";
}
```
This basic example will return a promise with the value of `foo`.
## Await
The `await` keyword is used to wait until a promise has executed and fetches the result. In order to use the `await` keyword, you **need** to be inside an `async` function.
```js
async function demo() {
let data = await foo();
console.log(foo); // "foo"
}
```
This code will call the `foo()` function from above and will wait on that line until the promise returned from the `async` function has returned.
Another example to demonstrate this is if we extended the `foo()` function from above to add a 5 second delay.
```js
async function foo() {
let promise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => resolve("foo"), 5000)
});
let data = await promise; // Execution waits here until promise resolves
console.log(data); // "foo"
}
```
## Error Handling
As with Promises, if the Promise returns with an error, it will affect the `await` call that triggered it. When using Promises without Async / Await, the `.catch()` syntax is used, and this also exists with Aysnc / Await using the `try...catch` syntax. This can be demonstrated by making our `foo()` function throw an error.
```js
async function foo() {
throw new Error("An Error Occurred");
}
```
This would be handled using Aysnc / Await like so:
```js
async function getData() {
try {
let data = await foo();
console.log(data);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err); // err: An Error Occurred
}
}
```
## Beginner Mistakes
As mentioned in the [intro](./intro.md), Promises are the highest source of confusion for beginners. Async / Await adds another layer on top of Promises, and comes with its own pitfalls.
`await` will **only** work if the function you try to add `await` to is `async`. Using `await` in top level code will not work (yet).
```js
let data = await foo(); // syntax error
```
To get around this issue, you can use an declare asynchronous function anonymously, if needed:
```js
(async () => {
let data = await foo();
console.log(data); // "foo"
})();
```
Top-Level-Await is something that *may* get added to Javascript in the future, but for now wrapper functions like above are needed for this functionality.
## Real World Example
Here is a real function that gets character information from the Rick and Morty API.
You can try it in your browser if you want to test it out.
```js
async function getCharacters() {
const response = await fetch(`https://rickandmortyapi.com/api/character`);
const data = await response.json();
return data.results;
}
(async () => {
try {
let characters = await getCharacters();
console.log(characters) // (20) [{...}, {...}, {...}]
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
})();
```
In this example, we are querying real data from the Rick & Morty API. This API has a lot of information regarding Rick & Morty, but here, we are trying to retrieve all the characters.
- The first thing we do is use `fetch` to retrieve the data from the API. `fetch` is a built in function in web browsers to do http requests, and returns a Promise by default. We `await` the result of this.
- When we get the result, we need to get the `JSON` value of the data. To do this, the `.json()` method from fetch is used. We then return the results.
- As `await` can only be used in an `async` function, we use the method from above to make this work. As `getCharacters()` returns a Promise due to it being `async`, we `await` the result. We surround this in a `try...catch` in case fetch returns an error. Then, if no error is returned, `characters` contains the information we want, and is logged to the console. If `getCharacters()` returns an error, that error is also logged.
## Comparision with default Promises:
Below is the same code implemented without using Async / Await as a comparision. Here, you can see the differences between the two methods, and how Aysnc / Await makes the code appear in a *more synchronous* pattern, and can be clearer to follow.
```js
function getCharacters() {
return fetch(`https://rickandmortyapi.com/api/character`)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(response => response.results)
}
getCharacters().then(characters => {
console.log(characters) // (20) [{...}, {...}, {...}]
}).catch(err => console.error(err))
```