Listeners and Emitters

Sometimes the same object will emit multiple types of events with different names. For example, a button might emit both a "press" and "longpress" event.

Objects that emit multiple events are often implemented using an event emitter class (either built-in or from a library).

We typically call event handler functions event listeners when they handle (or listen for) named events.

Listeners

Listeners are common when handling user input.

In the browser, for example, buttons emit a "click" event, and we can use addEventListener to handle it.

Emitters

Some environments like node.js and React Native come with a built-in event emitter class.

Here's how a custom one might be implemented.

Event emitters don't fundamentally have to interact with the event loop — handlers can be called synchronously too. However, using the event emitter pattern doesn't make as much sense in this case.