[javascript] How can I use async/await at the top level?

I have been going over async/await and after going over several articles, I decided to test things myself. However, I can't seem to wrap my head around why this does not work:

async function main() {  
    var value = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
    console.log('inside: ' + value);
    return value;
}

var text = main();  
console.log('outside: ' + text);

The console outputs the following (node v8.6.0) :

> outside: [object Promise]

> inside: Hey there

Why does the log message inside the function execute afterwards? I thought the reason async/await was created was in order to perform synchronous execution using asynchronous tasks.

Is there a way could I use the value returned inside the function without using a .then() after main()?

To give some further info on top of current answers:

The contents of a node.js file are currently concatenated, in a string-like way, to form a function body.

For example if you have a file test.js:

// Amazing test file!
console.log('Test!');

Then node.js will secretly concatenate a function that looks like:

function(require, __dirname, ... perhaps more top-level properties) {
  // Amazing test file!
  console.log('Test!');
}

The major thing to note, is that the resulting function is NOT an async function. So you cannot use the term await directly inside of it!

But say you need to work with promises in this file, then there are two possible methods:

1. Don't use await directly inside the function
2. Don't use await

Option 1 requires us to create a new scope (and this scope can be async, because we have control over it):

// Amazing test file!
// Create a new async function (a new scope) and immediately call it!
(async () => {
  await new Promise(...);
  console.log('Test!');
})();

Option 2 requires us to use the object-oriented promise API (the less pretty but equally functional paradigm of working with promises)

// Amazing test file!
// Create some sort of promise...
let myPromise = new Promise(...);

// Now use the object-oriented API
myPromise.then(() => console.log('Test!'));

It would be interesting to see node add support for top-level await!

You can now use top level await in Node v13.3.0

import axios from "axios";

const { data } = await axios.get("https://api.namefake.com/");
console.log(data);

run it with --harmony-top-level-await flag

node --harmony-top-level-await index.js

Top-level await is a feature of the upcoming EcmaScript standard. Currently, you can start using it with TypeScript 3.8 (in RC version at this time).

How to Install TypeScript 3.8

You can start using TypeScript 3.8 by installing it from npm using the following command:

$ npm install typescript@rc

At this time, you need to add the rc tag to install the latest typescript 3.8 version.

Top-Level await has moved to stage 3, so the answer to your question How can I use async/await at the top level? is to just add await the call to main() :

async function main() {
    var value = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
    console.log('inside: ' + value);
    return value;
}

var text = await main();  
console.log('outside: ' + text)

Or just:

const text = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
console.log('outside: ' + text)

Compatibility

• v8 since Oct 2019
  • the REPL in Chrome DevTools, Node.js and Safari web inspector
• Node v13.3+ behind the flag --harmony-top-level-await
• TypeScript 3.8+ (issue)
• Deno since Oct 2019
• [email protected]

i like this clever syntax to do async work from an entrypoint

void async function main() {
  await doSomeWork()
  await doMoreWork()
}()

Since main() runs asynchronously it returns a promise. You have to get the result in then() method. And because then() returns promise too, you have to call process.exit() to end the program.

main()
   .then(
      (text) => { console.log('outside: ' + text) },
      (err)  => { console.log(err) }
   )
   .then(() => { process.exit() } )

The actual solution to this problem is to approach it differently.

Probably your goal is some sort of initialization which typically happens at the top level of an application.

The solution is to ensure that there is only ever one single JavaScript statement at the top level of your application. If you have only one statement at the top of your application, then you are free to use async/await at every other point everwhere (subject of course to normal syntax rules)

Put another way, wrap your entire top level in a function so that it is no longer the top level and that solves the question of how to run async/await at the top level of an application - you don't.

This is what the top level of your application should look like:

import {application} from './server'

application();

Node -
You can run node --experimental-repl-await while in the REPL. I'm not so sure about scripting.

Deno -
Deno already has it built in.