# Understanding Async Functions

Let's see the difference between a synchronous and asynchronous functions in JavaScript.

For this exercise, we only need the console of the browser.

Copy and paste the following sync function:

function print(message) {
  return message;
}

Then, let's call it:

print("hi, there")

We can see that we get the message printed out:

hi, there

Let's make the method async.

We need to paste the same method, but with the async modifier:

async function print(message) {
  return message;
}

Now, let's call the function:

print("hi, there")

This time, it returns a Promise:

Promise {<resolved>: "hi, there"}

To get the result of the promise, we need to use then():

print("hi, there")
  .then(result => console.log(result));

This is the general idea: an async function returns a Promise which you need to resolve with a function.

The result parameter found in the then function represents the result from the print function. It contains the value of message.