javascript - How does Chrome's garbage collector handle async functions that never return a value?

Question

Does this cause any issues? I'd guess not, as long as we don't attempt to await an async function without a return value?

I've been looking for information on this, and I'm sure it's out there (maybe even obvious) but I haven't had any luck finding a definitive answer.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65927118/how-does-chromes-garbage-collector-handle-async-functions-that-never-return-a-v

Answer 1

The garbage collector has nothing to do with it.

In JavaScript, every function returns a value. When it has no explicit return statement, it'll implicitly return undefined.

Of course, if you wait for an event that never happens, you'll end up waiting forever. Any callbacks registered to run when the event happens will wait with you, i.e. they'll stay in memory forever.

See for yourself:

async function foo() { /* no explicit return */ }
let result = await foo();
console.log(result);  // undefined