This example demonstrates how to use web workers, a HTML5 technology that allows for parallel threads to be run by a webpage. Essentially, a new thread running a JavaScript interpreter is spawned for each web worker, which can communicate with the main thread (the browser's main JavaScript interpreter) through message passing.
One of the primary uses of web workers is to move long-running processes out of the main thread. This is important as the main thread is used for event handling. If a long-running process is running there, it blocks event handling until it finishes. The browser quits responding and may even inform the user that a script is misbehaiving.
We can see this with the process triggered by the button below, which simulates an intense calculation lasting the number of seconds specifed.
While the simulated calculation is running, you can click the squares below to change their color. If the main thread is busy, then the change won't happen. However, once the permutatons have finished, any queued events will be processed, changing the colors accordingly.