Future, Async, and Await in Programming

Introduction

• Topic: Understanding Future, Async, and Await in programming
• Type: Lecture
• Speaker: Instructor responds to subscriber questions
• Objective: Explain synchronous vs. asynchronous operations

Synchronous Operations

• Execution: Tasks performed one at a time, sequentially
• Example: Simple Program with 5 lines
  • Each line is executed in order
  • No server interaction leads to fast execution
  • Lines with server interaction will wait for response before executing the next
• Key Point: The next task cannot start until the current one completes

Asynchronous Operations

• Execution: Multiple tasks can be handled simultaneously
• Benefit: Efficient handling of tasks that require waiting for responses (e.g., server, database)
• Example: Modifying Program for Asynchronous Execution
  • Lines can execute in parallel if server response takes time
  • Utilizes Future, Async, and Await for better performance

Key Terms

• Future: Represents a value that will be available in the future
  • Can be in two states: complete or incomplete
  • Defined with expected return type
• Async: Converts a normal function into an asynchronous function
  • Automatically returns a Future type
• Await: Pauses execution until the Future is complete and data is available

Practical Usage

• Network Requests: Using async to handle network data fetching
• Database Operations: Fetching data from a database may require waiting
• File Operations: Reading data from third-party files

Example: Implementing Future, Async, and Await

1. Define a main function with print statements
2. Modify one function to use Future.delayed for simulation of delay
3. Use async keyword to convert a function to asynchronous
4. Use await keyword before the delay to pause execution
5. Run and observe the order of execution

Conclusion

• Learning Outcome: Basics of implementing Future, Async, and Await in Dart
• Next Steps: Detailed exploration in future videos
• Action Items: Like and subscribe to the channel

Additional Notes

• The lecture demonstrated the shift from synchronous to asynchronous programming
• Demonstration with Dart programming language
• Focus on simplicity and practical applicability for better understanding