What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous operations in programming?

Synchronous operations are performed sequentially: the program waits for one operation to complete before moving on to the next. Asynchronous operations allow tasks to be started without waiting for their completion, enabling other actions to be performed in parallel.

For example, in a synchronous call, the program blocks until the function returns a result. In the case of asynchronous, the function is launched, and the program can perform other tasks, with the result being handled later, for example, via a callback or await.

In Python, asynchrony is often implemented using async and await:

import asyncio

async def fetch_data():
    await asyncio.sleep(1)  # simulate delay
    return 'data'

async def main():
    print('Start fetching')
    data = await fetch_data()
    print(f'Got {data}')

asyncio.run(main())

Here, fetch_data is an asynchronous function that does not block execution while waiting for the result.