Is there a way to make the javascript await keyword work outside async functions?
Sadly, the answer is: No.
See the docs:
The await expression causes async function execution to pause, to wait for the Promise's resolution, and to resume the async function execution when the value is resolved. [emphasis added]
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/await
I would like to be able to freeze the entire call-stack (instead of just the rest of the async function), to be resumed once the particular promise returns a value.
But how could your promise return a value if the entire call-stack was frozen? It would be stuck forever.
More details
To use await you need to be inside async function.
At least you have to do:
async function main() {
// use await here
}
main();
in your main code.
SeeOr, using an IIFE - thanks to Robert Klep for the docssuggestion:
The await expression causes async function execution to pause, to wait for the Promise's resolution, and to resume the async function execution when the value is resolved. [emphasis added]
void async function main() {
// use await here
}();
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/await Or, if you like punctuation:
(async () => {
// use await here
})();
Other options
There are some other options to handle concurrency in Node, like:
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/co
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/bluebird-co
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/async-co
- http://bluebirdjs.com/docs/api/promise.coroutine.html
- http://taskjs.org/
none of which will freeze the call stack, however, as it would have the same effect as running kill -STOP with your own process ID and waiting for the stopped process to resume itself.