Simple example of how to patch `AWS.Request` (on node.js) to return a promise. Monkey patching sucks, but this is at least somewhat safe, and makes the API much nicer to work with. An alternative would be to add a `.then` to `AWS.Request`, however, it would be hard to implement this in compliance with the A+ specification.

aws-sdk-promise.js

var aws     = require('aws-sdk');
var Promise = require('promise');

/** Patch aws.Request to have a promise() method that returns a promise */
exports.patch = function() {
  aws.Request.prototype.promise = function() {
    var that = this;
    return new Promise(function(accept, reject) {
      that.on('complete', function(response) {
        if (response.error) {
          reject(response.error);
        } else {
          accept(response);
        }
      });
      that.send();
    });
  };
};

This is inspired by comments to issue 13 on aws-sdk-js.

As my summary suggests, it is tempting to add .then to AWS.Request... But I'm not exactly sure how I would make the response object act as an A+ promise. If the complete event occurs before .then is called, you'll never be able to invoke handlers as required by the A+ specfication.