async versions of slow libuv calls?

[ronag]

e.g. child_process.spawn and os.cpus() can be very slow calls that cause lag on the main thread. Would it make sense to perform async versions of these calls that run on a worker thread?

[RafaelGSS]

Shouldn't spawn already be the non-blocking operation? Considering child_process.spawnSync already exists.

[aduh95]

If there's a way to make it more async, I'll be interested to hear that, I have attempted to come up with a promise API for child_process API, and couldn't find a design that made sense. If there's space for more asyncness, that'd be ideal for a new Promise API I think.

[ronag]

Shouldn't spawn already be the non-blocking operation? Considering child_process.spawnSync already exists.

It is async in terms of IO, but it's not async in terms of computation.

[kvakil]

see nodejs/node#14917 re async spawn

[metcoder95]

If there's a way to make it more async, I'll be interested to hear that, I have attempted to come up with a promise API for child_process API, and couldn't find a design that made sense. If there's space for more asyncness, that'd be ideal for a new Promise API I think.

@aduh95 What were the design limitations or issues you faced?