Atomics.waitAsync()

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

The Atomics.waitAsync() static method waits asynchronously on a shared memory location and returns a Promise.

Unlike Atomics.wait(), waitAsync is non-blocking and usable on the main thread.

Note: This operation only works with an Int32Array or BigInt64Array that views a SharedArrayBuffer.

Syntax

js
Atomics.waitAsync(typedArray, index, value)
Atomics.waitAsync(typedArray, index, value, timeout)

Parameters

typedArray

An Int32Array or BigInt64Array that views a SharedArrayBuffer.

index

The position in the typedArray to wait on.

value

The expected value to test.

timeout Optional

Time to wait in milliseconds. NaN (and values that get converted to NaN, such as undefined) becomes Infinity. Negative values become 0.

Return value

An Object with the following properties:

async

A boolean indicating whether the value property is a Promise or not.

value

If async is false, it will be a string which is either "not-equal" or "timed-out" (only when the timeout parameter is 0). If async is true, it will be a Promise which is fulfilled with a string value, either "ok" or "timed-out". The promise is never rejected.

Exceptions

TypeError

Thrown if typedArray is not an Int32Array or BigInt64Array that views a SharedArrayBuffer.

RangeError

Thrown if index is out of bounds in the typedArray.

Examples

Using waitAsync()

Given a shared Int32Array.

js
const sab = new SharedArrayBuffer(1024);
const int32 = new Int32Array(sab);

A reading thread is sleeping and waiting on location 0 which is expected to be 0. The result.value will be a promise.

js
const result = Atomics.waitAsync(int32, 0, 0, 1000);
// { async: true, value: Promise {<pending>} }

In the reading thread or in another thread, the memory location 0 is called and the promise can be resolved with "ok".

js
Atomics.notify(int32, 0);
// { async: true, value: Promise {<fulfilled>: 'ok'} }

If it isn't resolving to "ok", the value in the shared memory location wasn't the expected (the value would be "not-equal" instead of a promise) or the timeout was reached (the promise will resolve to "time-out").

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-atomics.waitasync

Browser compatibility

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See also