Asynchronous computing is an umbrella term encompassing parallel and concurrent computational programs in which some tasks can be executed without a strict sequential order.  A future is a programming abstraction for a value that may be available at some future point in time and allows.  Like other forms of parallelism, futures are a powerful tool for writing programs that efficiently make use of available computing resources.  At the same time, futures can also be used to make interactive data analyses more time efficient. 

 In this workshop, we’ll discuss futures as implemented in the R package “future” and provide example use cases for both interactive analysis and batch processing.