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
});

另一个使用deferred来实现任何类型的计算(通常是一些性能密集型或长时间运行的任务)的缓存的例子:

var ResultsCache = function(computationFunction, cacheKeyGenerator) {
    this._cache = {};
    this._computationFunction = computationFunction;
    if (cacheKeyGenerator)
        this._cacheKeyGenerator = cacheKeyGenerator;
};

ResultsCache.prototype.compute = function() {
    // try to retrieve computation from cache
    var cacheKey = this._cacheKeyGenerator.apply(this, arguments);
    var promise = this._cache[cacheKey];

    // if not yet cached: start computation and store promise in cache 
    if (!promise) {
        var deferred = $.Deferred();
        promise = deferred.promise();
        this._cache[cacheKey] = promise;

        // perform the computation
        var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
        args.push(deferred.resolve);
        this._computationFunction.apply(null, args);
    }

    return promise;
};

// Default cache key generator (works with Booleans, Strings, Numbers and Dates)
// You will need to create your own key generator if you work with Arrays etc.
ResultsCache.prototype._cacheKeyGenerator = function(args) {
    return Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments).join("|");
};

下面是一个使用这个类来执行一些(模拟繁重的)计算的例子:

// The addingMachine will add two numbers
var addingMachine = new ResultsCache(function(a, b, resultHandler) {
    console.log("Performing computation: adding " + a + " and " + b);
    // simulate rather long calculation time by using a 1s timeout
    setTimeout(function() {
        var result = a + b;
        resultHandler(result);
    }, 1000);
});

addingMachine.compute(2, 4).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

addingMachine.compute(1, 1).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

// cached result will be used
addingMachine.compute(2, 4).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

同样的底层缓存也可以用于缓存Ajax请求:

var ajaxCache = new ResultsCache(function(id, resultHandler) {
    console.log("Performing Ajax request for id '" + id + "'");
    $.getJSON('http://jsfiddle.net/echo/jsonp/?callback=?', {value: id}, function(data) {
        resultHandler(data.value);
    });
});

ajaxCache.compute("anID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

ajaxCache.compute("anotherID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

// cached result will be used
ajaxCache.compute("anID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

您可以在这个jsFiddle中使用上述代码。

我能想到的最佳用例是缓存AJAX响应。以下是Rebecca murphy关于该主题的介绍帖子的修改示例:

var cache = {};

function getData( val ){

    // return either the cached value or jqXHR object wrapped Promise
    return $.when(
        cache[ val ] || 
        $.ajax('/foo/', {
            data: { value: val },
            dataType: 'json',
            success: function( resp ){
                cache[ val ] = resp;
            }
        })
    );
}

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

基本上，如果值已经被请求过一次，然后立即从缓存中返回。否则，AJAX请求将获取数据并将其添加到缓存中。当美元/。然后不关心这些;您需要关心的是使用响应，在这两种情况下，响应都传递给.then()处理程序。jQuery.when()将非promise /Deferred处理为Completed，立即执行链上的.done()或.then()。

当任务可能异步操作，也可能不异步操作时，延迟非常适合，并且您希望从代码中抽象出该条件。

另一个使用$的真实例子。当助手:

$.when($.getJSON('/some/data/'), $.get('template.tpl')).then(function (data, tmpl) {

    $(tmpl) // create a jQuery object out of the template
    .tmpl(data) // compile it
    .appendTo("#target"); // insert it into the DOM

});

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。

这是一个自我宣传的答案，但我花了几个月的时间研究这个问题，并在2012年旧金山jQuery大会上展示了结果。

这是一个免费视频的谈话:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juRtEEsHI9E

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);
});