When people talk about async, they could mean a few things.
Meaning — non-blocking thread. HTTP interaction is not async because the browser thread blocks.
* eg: email vs browser
* eg: http://search.cpan.org/~mewp/sybperl-2.18/pod/sybperl.pod async query
Meaning — initiating thread *returns* immediately, before the task is completed by another thread.
Meaning — no immediate response, less stringent demand on response time. HTTP server need to service the client right away since the client is blocking. As a web developer i constantly worry about round-trip duration.
Meaning — delayed response. In any design where a response is provided by a different thread, the requester generally don’t need immediate response. Requester thread goes on with its business.
* eg: email, MQ, producer/consumer
* eg: jms onMessage() vs poll, but RV is purely async
* eg: acknowledgement messages in zed, all-http
You can (but i won’t) think of these “meanings” as “features” of async.
