Cross platform async for JavaScript.
Defer is a utility library that allows JavaScript developers to write async code that works across multiple JavaScript platforms.
This functionality is provided in Node.js through its process.nextTick and setImmediate functions. The ability to micromanage the JavaScript concurrency model is a major benefit of the language that this library extends to browser environments.
Developers of cross platform JavaScript libraries can use Defer as a foundation for providing async behaviour that is consistent across multiple environments.
function logSomething() { console.log("ASYNC"); }
defer(logSomething);
console.log("SYNC");
// Console Output: "SYNC"
// At some point later:
// Console Output: "ASYNC"
Defer exposes a function called defer. This function is an abstraction over platform specific methods for deferring the execution of a function until a later cycle of the event loop. In modern Node.js this function aliases setImmediate. In legacy Node.js process.nextTick is used. In modern browsers this function leverages window.postMessage. In legacy browsers this function falls back on setTimeout.
For more detailed usage guides and API specifications, see the docs directory.
This package is published through NPM under the name deferjs:
$ npm install deferjs
Once installed, simply defer = require("deferjs").
This module uses browserify to create a browser compatible module. The default grunt workflow for this project will generate both a full and minified browser script in a build directory which can be included as a <script> tag:
<script src="defer.browser.min.js"></script>
The package is exposed via the global name deferjs.
Running the npm test command will kick off the default grunt workflow. This will lint using jslint, run the mocha/expect tests, generate a browser module, and test the browser module using PhantomJS.
This project is released and distributed under an MIT License.
Copyright (C) 2013 Kevin Conway Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
All code must validate against JSlint.
Mocha plus expect. All tests and functionality must run in Node.js and the browser.
All contribution to this project are protected by the contributors agreement detailed in the CONTRIBUTING file. All contributors should read the file before contributing, but as a summary:
You give us the rights to distribute your code and we promise to maintain an open source release of anything you contribute.