Is asyncio part of Python?

Python's asyncio module provides infrastructure for writing concurrent code using the async/await syntax. So while asyncio is not a part of the Python standard library, it is included with Python 3.7 and higher.

Why Async IO?

The async/await keywords in Python enable a paradigm called asynchronous programming. This allows you to write non-blocking code that can efficiently utilize I/O resources without causing the program to wait.

Some key benefits of asyncio:

Let's look at a quick example:

import asyncio

async def fetch_data():
    print('start fetching')
    await asyncio.sleep(2) # simulate a 2 second delay
    print('done fetching')
    return {'data': 1}

async def print_numbers():
    for i in range(10):
        print(i)
        await asyncio.sleep(0.25)

async def main():
    task1 = asyncio.create_task(fetch_data())
    task2 = asyncio.create_task(print_numbers())

    value = await task1
    print(value)
    await task2

asyncio.run(main())

This concurrently runs two async functions without blocking the main thread.

How to Use Asyncio

The asyncio module includes classes like Task and EventLoop to manage the control flow. The asyncio.run() method sets up the event loop and executor to run until complete.

The key takeaways are:

So while asyncio is not part of the Python standard library, it is included with Python by default. This makes async programming a built-in capability of the language.