async vs p-map
Asynchronous Control Flow Libraries Comparison
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What's Asynchronous Control Flow Libraries?

Asynchronous control flow libraries in JavaScript help manage the execution of asynchronous operations, such as callbacks, promises, and events, in a more structured and manageable way. These libraries provide tools and patterns to handle tasks like sequencing, parallelism, and error handling, making it easier to write clean and maintainable code in environments like Node.js and the browser. They are particularly useful for avoiding callback hell, managing complex workflows, and improving the readability of asynchronous code. async is a comprehensive library that offers a wide range of utilities for managing asynchronous operations, including functions for parallel and serial execution, batching, and more. It provides a rich set of features for controlling the flow of asynchronous tasks, making it suitable for complex workflows. p-map, on the other hand, is a lightweight library focused on mapping over asynchronous iterable data with a specified concurrency limit. It allows you to process items in parallel while controlling the number of concurrent operations, making it ideal for scenarios where you want to limit resource usage or avoid overwhelming an API with too many simultaneous requests.

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async62,802,518
28,220808 kB18a year agoMIT
p-map49,593,695
1,44921.2 kB129 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: async vs p-map

Functionality

  • async:

    The async library provides a wide range of functions for managing asynchronous operations, including async.series, async.parallel, async.waterfall, and more. It supports both callback-based and promise-based APIs, allowing for flexible integration with different asynchronous patterns.

  • p-map:

    p-map focuses specifically on mapping over asynchronous iterables with a concurrency limit. It provides a single function, pMap, that takes an iterable, a mapping function, and a concurrency limit, making it simple to use for tasks that require controlled parallelism.

Concurrency Control

  • async:

    While async provides concurrency control in functions like async.parallelLimit, it is more of a general-purpose library without a specific focus on concurrency. Users can implement various concurrency patterns using its extensive feature set.

  • p-map:

    p-map is designed with concurrency control as a core feature. It allows you to specify the maximum number of concurrent operations, making it easy to limit resource usage and prevent overwhelming APIs or systems.

Ease of Use

  • async:

    async has a steeper learning curve due to its comprehensive feature set and the need to understand various patterns (e.g., series, parallel, waterfall). However, its flexibility and power make it worth the investment for complex tasks.

  • p-map:

    p-map is straightforward and easy to use, especially for developers familiar with the Array.prototype.map method. Its simplicity and focused functionality make it quick to learn and integrate into projects.

Size and Performance

  • async:

    The async library is relatively large due to its extensive feature set. However, it is highly optimized for performance and provides efficient implementations of various asynchronous patterns.

  • p-map:

    p-map is a lightweight library with a small footprint, making it ideal for performance-sensitive applications where only a limited set of functionality is needed.

Example Code

  • async:

    Here is an example of using async to execute tasks in parallel:

    const async = require('async');

const tasks = [
  (callback) => setTimeout(() => callback(null, 'Task 1 completed'), 1000),
  (callback) => setTimeout(() => callback(null, 'Task 2 completed'), 500),
  (callback) => setTimeout(() => callback(null, 'Task 3 completed'), 2000),
];

async.parallel(tasks, (err, results) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Error executing tasks:', err);
  } else {
    console.log('All tasks completed:', results);
  }
});
  • p-map:

    Here is an example of using p-map to process an array of URLs with controlled concurrency:

    const pMap = require('p-map');
const fetch = require('node-fetch');

const urls = [
  'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1',
  'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/2',
  'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/3',
];

const fetchUrl = async (url) => {
  const response = await fetch(url);
  return response.json();
};

const concurrencyLimit = 2;
pMap(urls, fetchUrl, { concurrency: concurrencyLimit }).then((results) => {
  console.log('Fetched data:', results);
});
How to Choose: async vs p-map
  • async:

    Choose async if you need a comprehensive toolkit for managing various asynchronous patterns, including parallel, serial, and batched execution. It is suitable for complex workflows and provides extensive features for error handling and flow control.

  • p-map:

    Choose p-map if you need a simple and efficient way to map over asynchronous data with controlled concurrency. It is lightweight and easy to use, making it ideal for tasks like processing arrays or iterables with a limit on the number of concurrent operations.

Similar Npm Packages to async

async is a utility module that provides powerful functions for working with asynchronous JavaScript. It simplifies the process of managing asynchronous operations, allowing developers to write cleaner and more maintainable code. With features like parallel execution, series execution, and control flow, async is particularly useful for handling complex asynchronous workflows. However, there are several alternatives in the JavaScript ecosystem that also provide similar functionalities. Here are a few notable ones:

  • bluebird is a fully-featured promise library that offers a wide range of utilities for working with promises. It enhances the native Promise functionality by providing additional features such as cancellation, progress tracking, and more robust error handling. bluebird is known for its performance and is a great choice for developers looking for an advanced promise library that can handle complex asynchronous tasks with ease.

  • p-map is a lightweight utility that allows you to map over an array asynchronously, executing a provided function for each element in parallel. It is particularly useful when you need to perform asynchronous operations on an array of items and want to control the concurrency level. p-map is simple to use and can be a great alternative for scenarios where you need to process multiple asynchronous tasks without the overhead of a larger library.

  • q is another promise library that focuses on providing a simple and straightforward API for working with asynchronous code. It was one of the earlier promise libraries in the JavaScript ecosystem and offers features like chaining, error handling, and more. While it may not be as feature-rich as some of the newer libraries, q is still a solid choice for developers looking for a lightweight solution for managing asynchronous operations.

To see how async compares with bluebird, p-map, and q, check out the comparison: Comparing async vs bluebird vs p-map vs q.

Similar Npm Packages to p-map

p-map is a utility library for mapping over asynchronous operations in a more manageable way. It allows developers to run multiple promises concurrently while controlling the number of promises that are executed at any given time. This makes it particularly useful for scenarios where you need to perform multiple asynchronous tasks without overwhelming the system or the API being called. With p-map, you can specify a concurrency limit, ensuring that only a certain number of promises are processed simultaneously, which helps in optimizing resource usage and improving performance.

While p-map is a great tool for handling concurrent asynchronous operations, there are several alternatives that provide similar functionalities. Here are a few noteworthy alternatives:

  • p-all is a utility that allows you to run multiple promises in parallel and returns a single promise that resolves when all of the promises have resolved. Unlike p-map, which focuses on mapping over an array with concurrency control, p-all is straightforward and simply executes all promises at once. This can be useful when you want to wait for multiple asynchronous operations to complete without worrying about limiting the number of concurrent executions.

  • p-queue is a promise queue that allows you to manage the execution of asynchronous tasks with fine-grained control. It provides features such as concurrency limits, priority levels, and the ability to pause and resume the queue. p-queue is particularly useful when you need to manage a large number of asynchronous tasks and want to ensure that they are executed in a controlled manner, making it a powerful alternative to p-map for more complex scenarios.

  • p-series is a utility that runs promises in series, meaning that it waits for each promise to resolve before starting the next one. This is different from p-map, which allows for concurrent execution. If your use case requires that tasks be executed one after another rather than in parallel, p-series is the appropriate choice.

To explore how these packages compare, check out the following link: Comparing p-all vs p-map vs p-queue vs p-series.

README for async

Async Logo

Github Actions CI status NPM version Coverage Status Join the chat at https://gitter.im/caolan/async jsDelivr Hits

Async is a utility module which provides straight-forward, powerful functions for working with asynchronous JavaScript. Although originally designed for use with Node.js and installable via npm i async, it can also be used directly in the browser. An ESM/MJS version is included in the main async package that should automatically be used with compatible bundlers such as Webpack and Rollup.

A pure ESM version of Async is available as async-es.

For Documentation, visit https://caolan.github.io/async/

For Async v1.5.x documentation, go HERE

// for use with Node-style callbacks...
var async = require("async");

var obj = {dev: "/dev.json", test: "/test.json", prod: "/prod.json"};
var configs = {};

async.forEachOf(obj, (value, key, callback) => {
    fs.readFile(__dirname + value, "utf8", (err, data) => {
        if (err) return callback(err);
        try {
            configs[key] = JSON.parse(data);
        } catch (e) {
            return callback(e);
        }
        callback();
    });
}, err => {
    if (err) console.error(err.message);
    // configs is now a map of JSON data
    doSomethingWith(configs);
});

var async = require("async");

// ...or ES2017 async functions
async.mapLimit(urls, 5, async function(url) {
    const response = await fetch(url)
    return response.body
}, (err, results) => {
    if (err) throw err
    // results is now an array of the response bodies
    console.log(results)
})
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