Async/await and promises

The main difference in semantics between DeviceScript and JavaScript is that DeviceScript programs run in multiple fibers (threads). In practice, this behaves like JS with async/await but without an ability to manipulate promises directly (that is fibers can only interleave at await points and at most one fiber runs at any given time).

The compiler enforces usage of await where needed. The Promise<T> is still used just as in TypeScript, but it has no properties.

Technically, the interpreter implements fibers internally (they can be accessed through ds.Fiber class), the await keyword is no-op and the Promise type has no runtime representation. You can inspect the currently running fibers in the debugger and stack traces are not cut at await points (both of which match programmers general (if not JS-specific) expectations).

You can use Function.start(...args: any[]) to start an async or sync function in a new fiber. It will begin executing only after the current fiber hits an await (.start() itself is not async).