Is there any reason why I can't `await()` a corout...

# coroutines

[Colton Idle]

Is there any reason why I can't await() a coroutine? I thought I would be able to just define my val result = myRetrofitSuspendingCall and call await() on it. It seems like I need to wrap it in an async{} block before I do, but it seems a little counterintuitive. (I'm still new at coroutines)? Is this async block needed because coroutines themselves still read like synchronous code?

[octylFractal]

coroutines don't have to return a value, async communicates that you want to return a value

[octylFractal]

if you don't care about a value and just want to wait for it to complete, use join on the Job instead

[octylFractal]

if you're calling a suspending function, it already is effectively waiting for the result

[octylFractal]

that's the entire point of the suspend modifier and coroutines in general

[Colton Idle]

True. So I basically have to make 4 network calls and wait for all of them to be done. Should I do it as such?

val work1 = async { getThingsDone(43) }
                val work2 = async { getThingsDoneAgain(123) }

                val result = computeResult(work1.await(), work2.await())

Or should I use join?

Also @octylFractal thanks for the help yesterday as well. 😄

[octylFractal]

yes, that works just fine

[Colton Idle]

Okay. I feel like coroutines has matured a lot and so I didn't know if I was reading out of date information. I might try join as that seems cool as well, but I guess none of them are objectively better than the other?

[octylFractal]

basically it's just if you want the value or not, when you have a Deferred<T> you await, when you have a Job you join

[Colton Idle]

Got it. Also thanks @elizarov https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46226518/what-is-the-difference-between-launch-join-and-async-await-in-kotlin-coroutines