Event loops are constructs inherent to asynchronous programming that allow performing tasks asynchronously.

In its purest essence, an event loop is a process that waits around for triggers and then performs specific (programmed) actions once those triggers are met. They often return a "promise" (JavaScript syntax) or "future" (Python syntax) of some sort to denote that a task has been added. Once the task is finished, the promise or future returns a value passed back from the called function (assuming the function does return a value).