An operation that does not of itself cause the process requesting the operation to be blocked from further use of the CPU. This implies that the process and the operation are running concurrently.
n. An operation that proceeds independently of any timing mechanism, such as a clock. For example, two modems communicating asynchronously rely upon each sending the other start and stop signals in order to pace the exchange of information. Compare synchronous operation.
An operation that returns control to the calling program without waiting for the operation to complete. Before the operation is complete, code execution continues. See also synchronous operation.
In telecommunications, asynchronous operation or asynchronous working is where a sequence of operations is executed such that the operations are executed out of time coincidence with any event. It can also be an operation that occurs without a regular or predictable time relationship to a specified event; e.g., the calling of an error diagnostic routine that may receive control at any time during the execution of a computer program.