Dealing with return values for asynchronous calls in javascript (when you're accustomed to synchronous code)

additional_notes_on_js_async2sync.txt

https://blog.cloudboost.io/execute-asynchronous-tasks-in-series-942b74697f9c
https://blog.scottlogic.com/2017/09/14/asynchronous-recursion.html

return_value_with_callbacks.js

function asyncWrapper(args,callback){
  some_async_method_or_event_block('data', function(asyncResult) {
    //normally for simple async use, you deal with the "result" here
    //but we'll defer to the caller to deal with the result ~ synchronously
    //by returning or passing back the result to the caller
    callback(asyncResult);
  });
  //some code here that triggers the async event block above if it was an event handler rather than a method
  //this code may use the args supplied by the wrapper. 
  //no code needed here otherwise if the above block was a method
}

//call the async wrapper to run the async code in a synchronous-like way that you're more familiar with, this way...
asyncWrapper(someData, function(syncLikeResult) {
  //now deal with the result as you like
  //code here would be like code that is run after the asyncWrapper call in a synchronous scenario
  console.log(syncLikeResult);
});

//the above asyncWrapper call approximately simulates the synchronous behavior & style one is accustomed to like this:
//var syncLikeResult = asyncWrapper(someData);
//console.log(syncLikeResult);
//where the asyncWrapper implementation in synchronous style would have looked like this:
/*
function asyncWrapper(args){
  //do something with args, synchronously
  return result;
}
*/
//except that ^^ above is not possible with asynchronous code, 
//so you do the best alternative via the uncommented code block above

/* additional tip on handling callbacks where you might have to iterate an array 
or hash/dictionary to do more callbacks and sync the result back 
with the main code/callback can be found in the original solution here:
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/39441502/posts/58
*/

return_value_with_promises.js

/* TODO, I haven't really dealt with code that uses promises yet...
to be able to showcase how to work it in a synchronous way/feel
but for now, good to read up on this: https://www.promisejs.org
or the tips/samples under
https://blog.cloudboost.io/execute-asynchronous-tasks-in-series-942b74697f9c
https://github.com/NodeRedis/node_redis
*/