Async IO (asyncio) is an incredibly useful concurrent programming framework that allows you to write asynchronous code in Python. But is it part of the Python standard library?
The short answer is yes - asyncio has been included in the Python standard library since Python 3.4. This means it comes installed by default with Python without needing to install any additional packages.
This makes asyncio a very convenient and accessible tool for concurrent and asynchronous programming in Python. Some key things to know:
Why Async IO is Useful
Async IO allows you to execute multiple tasks concurrently within a single thread. This is extremely useful for IO-bound tasks like making web requests or reading/writing to databases where your code is often waiting on IO instead of using the CPU.
Some examples of what asyncio enables:
Using Async IO
The async/await syntax makes asyncio very straightforward to use:
import asyncio
async def main():
print('Hello')
await some_io_function()
print('World')
asyncio.run(main())Async IO has many more advanced features for coordination and concurrency like
Challenges
Debugging async code can be more difficult due to its non-linear execution. And asyncio may not help for CPU-bound or compute-intensive workloads.
Overall, asyncio is an incredibly useful built-in tool for any IO-bound app or for building scalable network programs. The fact that it's a standard library module means it's always available to use in Python 3.