Question

The readline library and most other modules are geared towards asynchronous/event-based user input handling.

I need my application to block and wait for input before continuing. Is there a way to do this or is this simply not supported in Node.js?

I know this goes against the philosophy of Node.js but this is not what I am worried about – the application I am developing is not a conventional web application, I am just using Node.js to develop it.

Answer 1

There are numerous libraries for javascript that makes it easier to work with async. You can look here for one example: https://github.com/creationix/step .

I do most of my node.js programming using CoffeeScript, and there is a fork of the official compiler called IcedCoffeeScript that has support for await and defer keywords, that allows you to write CPS/callback-style programming without endless cascading of callbacks. You can find it here: http://maxtaco.github.com/coffee-script/ .

And finally, a free tip. When/if you start writing your own modules you may struggle with figuring out whether you should write it in a CPS/callback-style or not. When you struggle with this choice, always write it in a CPS/callback style, and use await/defer or any other javascript library to make it look and feel like traditional synchronous programming. Writing your own functions in a non-callback style and using libraries that primarily support callback-style programming is a recipe for disaster.