Interview Question

Difference between async and defer?

Use async for independent scripts and defer for ordered scripts that run after HTML parsing.

💡 Concept ✅ Quick Revision 🌐 HTML

Answer

Both `async` and `defer` allow an external classic script to download while HTML parsing continues. • An async script executes as soon as it is ready, so multiple async scripts do not preserve document order. • A deferred script executes after parsing and deferred scripts preserve document order. • Module scripts are deferred by default unless `async` is specified.

💡 Simple Example

<script async src="/analytics.js"></script><script defer src="/app.js"></script>

⚡ Quick Revision

Use async for independent scripts and defer for ordered scripts that run after HTML parsing.