What solution is used for handling tasks limited by input/output operations?

For handling I/O-bound tasks, Python often uses asynchronous programming with asyncio or multithreading.

Since I/O operations typically block the thread, the asynchronous approach allows running other tasks while waiting for I/O to complete, increasing efficiency.

Example using asyncio to read multiple files simultaneously:

import asyncio

async def read_file(filename):
    print(f"Start reading {filename}")
    await asyncio.sleep(1)  # simulate I/O operation
    print(f"Finished reading {filename}")

async def main():
    await asyncio.gather(
        read_file('file1.txt'),
        read_file('file2.txt'),
        read_file('file3.txt')
    )

asyncio.run(main())

This approach efficiently utilizes waiting time for I/O without blocking the main thread. For CPU-bound tasks, it's better to use multiprocessing.