可以用deferred来代替互斥量。这本质上与多个ajax使用场景相同。

互斥锁

var mutex = 2;

setTimeout(function() {
 callback();
}, 800);

setTimeout(function() {
 callback();
}, 500);

function callback() {
 if (--mutex === 0) {
  //run code
 }
}

递延

function timeout(x) {
 var dfd = jQuery.Deferred();
 setTimeout(function() {
  dfd.resolve();
 }, x);
 return dfd.promise();
}

jQuery.when(
timeout(800), timeout(500)).done(function() {
 // run code
});

当只使用Deferred作为互斥量时，要注意性能影响(http://jsperf.com/deferred-vs-mutex/2)。虽然Deferred提供的便利和额外的好处是值得的，但在实际(基于用户驱动的事件)使用中，性能影响不应该很明显。

Another use that I've been putting to good purpose is fetching data from multiple sources. In the example below, I'm fetching multiple, independent JSON schema objects used in an existing application for validation between a client and a REST server. In this case, I don't want the browser-side application to start loading data before it has all the schemas loaded. $.when.apply().then() is perfect for this. Thank to Raynos for pointers on using then(fn1, fn2) to monitor for error conditions.

fetch_sources = function (schema_urls) {
    var fetch_one = function (url) {
            return $.ajax({
                url: url,
                data: {},
                contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                dataType: "json",
            });
        }
    return $.map(schema_urls, fetch_one);
}

var promises = fetch_sources(data['schemas']);
$.when.apply(null, promises).then(

function () {
    var schemas = $.map(arguments, function (a) {
        return a[0]
    });
    start_application(schemas);
}, function () {
    console.log("FAIL", this, arguments);
});     

您还可以将它与任何使用JQuery的第三方库集成。

Backbone就是这样一个库，它将在下一个版本中支持Deferred。

1)使用它来确保回调的有序执行:

var step1 = new Deferred();
var step2 = new Deferred().done(function() { return step1 });
var step3 = new Deferred().done(function() { return step2 });

step1.done(function() { alert("Step 1") });
step2.done(function() { alert("Step 2") });
step3.done(function() { alert("All done") });
//now the 3 alerts will also be fired in order of 1,2,3
//no matter which Deferred gets resolved first.

step2.resolve();
step3.resolve();
step1.resolve();

2)用它来验证应用的状态:

var loggedIn = logUserInNow(); //deferred
var databaseReady = openDatabaseNow(); //deferred

jQuery.when(loggedIn, databaseReady).then(function() {
  //do something
});

我只是在实际代码中使用了Deferred。在jQuery终端项目中，我有函数exec调用用户定义的命令(就像他进入并按下enter)，我添加了延迟到API和调用exec数组。是这样的:

terminal.exec('command').then(function() {
   terminal.echo('command finished');
});

or

terminal.exec(['command 1', 'command 2', 'command 3']).then(function() {
   terminal.echo('all commands finished');
});

命令可以运行异步代码，exec需要按顺序调用用户代码。我的第一个api使用暂停/恢复调用对，在新的api中，当用户返回承诺时，我调用那些自动。所以用户代码可以直接使用

return $.get('/some/url');

or

var d = new $.Deferred();
setTimeout(function() {
    d.resolve("Hello Deferred"); // resolve value will be echoed
}, 500);
return d.promise();

我使用这样的代码:

exec: function(command, silent, deferred) {
    var d;
    if ($.isArray(command)) {
        return $.when.apply($, $.map(command, function(command) {
            return self.exec(command, silent);
        }));
    }
    // both commands executed here (resume will call Term::exec)
    if (paused) {
        // delay command multiple time
        d = deferred || new $.Deferred();
        dalyed_commands.push([command, silent, d]);
        return d.promise();
    } else {
        // commands may return promise from user code
        // it will resolve exec promise when user promise
        // is resolved
        var ret = commands(command, silent, true, deferred);
        if (!ret) {
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve(self);
                return deferred.promise();
            } else {
                d = new $.Deferred();
                ret = d.promise();
                ret.resolve();
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
},

Dalyed_commands用于恢复函数，使用所有的Dalyed_commands再次调用exec。

和部分命令函数(我已经剥离了不相关的部分)

function commands(command, silent, exec, deferred) {

    var position = lines.length-1;
    // Call user interpreter function
    var result = interpreter.interpreter(command, self);
    // user code can return a promise
    if (result != undefined) {
        // new API - auto pause/resume when using promises
        self.pause();
        return $.when(result).then(function(result) {
            // don't echo result if user echo something
            if (result && position === lines.length-1) {
                display_object(result);
            }
            // resolve promise from exec. This will fire
            // code if used terminal::exec('command').then
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve();
            }
            self.resume();
        });
    }
    // this is old API
    // if command call pause - wait until resume
    if (paused) {
        self.bind('resume.command', function() {
            // exec with resume/pause in user code
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve();
            }
            self.unbind('resume.command');
        });
    } else {
        // this should not happen
        if (deferred) {
            deferred.resolve();
        }
    }
}

ehyds的答案将不起作用，因为它缓存了响应数据。它应该缓存jqXHR，这也是一个Promise。 下面是正确的代码:

var cache = {};

function getData( val ){

    // return either the cached value or an
    // jqXHR object (which contains a promise)
    return cache[ val ] || $.ajax('/foo/', {
        data: { value: val },
        dataType: 'json',
        success: function(data, textStatus, jqXHR){
            cache[ val ] = jqXHR;
        }
    });
}

getData('foo').then(function(resp){
    // do something with the response, which may
    // or may not have been retreived using an
    // XHR request.
});

Julian d的答案是正确的，是一个更好的解决方案。