Master asynchronous programming patterns in TypeScript, including Promises, async/await, error handling, async iterators, and advanced patterns for building robust async applications.
Promises and async/await
Basic Promise Creation
// Creating a Promise
function delay(ms: number): Promise<void> {
return new Promise((resolve) => {
setTimeout(resolve, ms);
});
}
// Promise with value
function fetchUserData(userId: string): Promise<User> {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
// Simulated API call
setTimeout(() => {
if (userId) {
resolve({ id: userId, name: 'John Doe' });
} else {
reject(new Error('Invalid user ID'));
}
}, 1000);
});
}
// Using the Promise
fetchUserData('123')
.then((user) => {
console.log(user.name);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.error('Error:', error.message);
});
async/await Syntax
interface User {
id: string;
name: string;
email: string;
}
interface Post {
id: string;
userId: string;
title: string;
content: string;
}
// Async function declaration
async function getUserPosts(userId: string): Promise<Post[]> {
try {
const user = await fetchUserData(userId);
const posts = await fetchPostsByUser(user.id);
return posts;
} catch (error) {
console.error('Failed to fetch user posts:', error);
throw error;
}
}
// Async arrow function
const getUserProfile = async (userId: string): Promise<User> => {
const user = await fetchUserData(userId);
return user;
};
// Using async/await
async function main() {
const posts = await getUserPosts('123');
console.log(`Found ${posts.length} posts`);
}
Type-Safe Promise Wrappers
type Result<T, E = Error> =
| { success: true; data: T }
| { success: false; error: E };
async function safeAsync<T>(
promise: Promise<T>
): Promise<Result<T>> {
try {
const data = await promise;
return { success: true, data };
} catch (error) {
return {
success: false,
error: error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error)),
};
}
}
// Usage
async function example() {
const result = await safeAsync(fetchUserData('123'));
if (result.success) {
console.log(result.data.name);
} else {
console.error(result.error.message);
}
}
Promise Chaining and Composition
Chaining Promises
interface ApiResponse<T> {
data: T;
status: number;
}
function fetchData<T>(url: string): Promise<ApiResponse<T>> {
return fetch(url)
.then((response) => {
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
}
return response.json();
})
.then((data) => ({
data,
status: 200,
}));
}
// Chaining multiple async operations
function processUserData(userId: string): Promise<string> {
return fetchUserData(userId)
.then((user) => fetchPostsByUser(user.id))
.then((posts) => posts.filter((post) => post.title.includes('TypeScript')))
.then((filteredPosts) => `Found ${filteredPosts.length} TypeScript posts`)
.catch((error) => {
console.error('Error in chain:', error);
return 'Failed to process user data';
});
}
Composing Async Functions
type AsyncFunction<T, R> = (input: T) => Promise<R>;
function pipe<T, A, B>(
fn1: AsyncFunction<T, A>,
fn2: AsyncFunction<A, B>
): AsyncFunction<T, B> {
return async (input: T) => {
const result1 = await fn1(input);
return fn2(result1);
};
}
// Usage
const getUserId = async (username: string): Promise<string> => {
// Look up user ID
return '123';
};
const getUserData = async (userId: string): Promise<User> => {
return fetchUserData(userId);
};
const getUserByUsername = pipe(getUserId, getUserData);
// Use the composed function
const user = await getUserByUsername('johndoe');
Error Handling in Async Code
Try-Catch with async/await
class ApiError extends Error {
constructor(
message: string,
public statusCode: number,
public response?: unknown
) {
super(message);
this.name = 'ApiError';
}
}
async function fetchWithErrorHandling<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
try {
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) {
throw new ApiError(
`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`,
response.status
);
}
const data = await response.json();
return data;
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof ApiError) {
console.error(`API Error ${error.statusCode}: ${error.message}`);
} else if (error instanceof TypeError) {
console.error('Network error:', error.message);
} else {
console.error('Unknown error:', error);
}
throw error;
}
}
Error Recovery Patterns
async function fetchWithFallback<T>(
primaryUrl: string,
fallbackUrl: string
): Promise<T> {
try {
return await fetchWithErrorHandling<T>(primaryUrl);
} catch (error) {
console.warn('Primary fetch failed, trying fallback');
return await fetchWithErrorHandling<T>(fallbackUrl);
}
}
// Multiple fallbacks
async function fetchWithMultipleFallbacks<T>(
urls: string[]
): Promise<T> {
let lastError: Error | undefined;
for (const url of urls) {
try {
return await fetchWithErrorHandling<T>(url);
} catch (error) {
lastError = error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error));
console.warn(`Failed to fetch from ${url}, trying next...`);
}
}
throw new Error(
`All fetches failed. Last error: ${lastError?.message ?? 'Unknown'}`
);
}
Typed Error Handling
class ValidationError extends Error {
constructor(message: string, public field: string) {
super(message);
this.name = 'ValidationError';
}
}
class NetworkError extends Error {
constructor(message: string, public url: string) {
super(message);
this.name = 'NetworkError';
}
}
type AppError = ValidationError | NetworkError | Error;
async function handleUserUpdate(userId: string, data: unknown): Promise<void> {
try {
await validateUserData(data);
await updateUser(userId, data);
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof ValidationError) {
console.error(`Validation error in field ${error.field}: ${error.message}`);
} else if (error instanceof NetworkError) {
console.error(`Network error for ${error.url}: ${error.message}`);
} else if (error instanceof Error) {
console.error(`Unexpected error: ${error.message}`);
}
throw error;
}
}
Promise Combinators
Promise.all
interface UserData {
profile: User;
posts: Post[];
comments: Comment[];
}
async function fetchUserDataParallel(userId: string): Promise<UserData> {
const [profile, posts, comments] = await Promise.all([
fetchUserData(userId),
fetchPostsByUser(userId),
fetchCommentsByUser(userId),
]);
return { profile, posts, comments };
}
// Type-safe Promise.all with tuple
async function fetchMultipleResources() {
const [users, posts, settings] = await Promise.all([
fetchUsers(), // Promise<User[]>
fetchPosts(), // Promise<Post[]>
fetchSettings(), // Promise<Settings>
] as const);
// TypeScript infers correct types
const firstUser: User = users[0];
const firstPost: Post = posts[0];
}
Promise.allSettled
interface SettledResult<T> {
status: 'fulfilled' | 'rejected';
value?: T;
reason?: Error;
}
async function fetchAllUserData(
userIds: string[]
): Promise<Array<SettledResult<User>>> {
const results = await Promise.allSettled(
userIds.map((id) => fetchUserData(id))
);
return results.map((result) => {
if (result.status === 'fulfilled') {
return { status: 'fulfilled', value: result.value };
} else {
return { status: 'rejected', reason: result.reason };
}
});
}
// Usage
const results = await fetchAllUserData(['1', '2', '3']);
const successful = results.filter((r) => r.status === 'fulfilled');
const failed = results.filter((r) => r.status === 'rejected');
console.log(`${successful.length} succeeded, ${failed.length} failed`);
Promise.race and Promise.any
// Promise.race - first to settle (fulfill or reject)
async function fetchWithTimeout<T>(
promise: Promise<T>,
timeoutMs: number
): Promise<T> {
const timeout = new Promise<never>((_, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => reject(new Error('Operation timed out')), timeoutMs);
});
return Promise.race([promise, timeout]);
}
// Usage
const data = await fetchWithTimeout(fetchUserData('123'), 5000);
// Promise.any - first to fulfill (ignores rejections)
async function fetchFromFastestServer<T>(
urls: string[]
): Promise<T> {
const fetchPromises = urls.map((url) => fetchWithErrorHandling<T>(url));
try {
return await Promise.any(fetchPromises);
} catch (error) {
throw new Error('All servers failed to respond');
}
}
Async Iterators and Generators
Basic Async Iterators
interface AsyncIteratorResult<T> {
value: T;
done: boolean;
}
async function* numberGenerator(max: number): AsyncGenerator<number> {
for (let i = 0; i < max; i++) {
await delay(100);
yield i;
}
}
// Using async iterator
async function consumeNumbers() {
for await (const num of numberGenerator(5)) {
console.log(num);
}
}
Async Iterable Data Streams
interface DataChunk {
data: string;
timestamp: number;
}
class AsyncDataStream implements AsyncIterable<DataChunk> {
constructor(private source: string[]) {}
async *[Symbol.asyncIterator](): AsyncGenerator<DataChunk> {
for (const data of this.source) {
await delay(100);
yield {
data,
timestamp: Date.now(),
};
}
}
}
// Usage
async function processStream() {
const stream = new AsyncDataStream(['chunk1', 'chunk2', 'chunk3']);
for await (const chunk of stream) {
console.log(`Received at ${chunk.timestamp}: ${chunk.data}`);
}
}
Transforming Async Iterables
async function* mapAsync<T, R>(
iterable: AsyncIterable<T>,
mapper: (value: T) => Promise<R> | R
): AsyncGenerator<R> {
for await (const value of iterable) {
yield await mapper(value);
}
}
async function* filterAsync<T>(
iterable: AsyncIterable<T>,
predicate: (value: T) => Promise<boolean> | boolean
): AsyncGenerator<T> {
for await (const value of iterable) {
if (await predicate(value)) {
yield value;
}
}
}
// Usage
async function transformData() {
const stream = new AsyncDataStream(['1', '2', '3', '4', '5']);
const numbers = mapAsync(stream, (chunk) => parseInt(chunk.data));
const evenNumbers = filterAsync(numbers, (n) => n % 2 === 0);
for await (const num of evenNumbers) {
console.log(num); // 2, 4
}
}
Observable Patterns
Simple Observable Implementation
<pre class="langua