How can you initiate the execution of a suspend function in Kotlin?

In Kotlin, suspend functions can only be called from another suspend function or from a coroutine. To launch a suspend function outside of a suspend context, a coroutine scope and launch functions, such as launch or async from the kotlinx.coroutines library, are used.

Example:

import kotlinx.coroutines.*

suspend fun fetchData() {
    delay(1000) // simulate a long operation
    println("Data received")
}

fun main() {
    runBlocking { // launches a coroutine and blocks the current thread
        fetchData() // calling suspend function inside suspend context
    }

    GlobalScope.launch { // launching a coroutine in the global scope
        fetchData()
    }
    Thread.sleep(2000) // to prevent the program from ending early
}

Thus, to initiate a suspend function, you need to be inside a suspend function or launch a coroutine using launch, async, or runBlocking.