# Future

A handle to a result that does not exist yet. Calling a distributed function returns a future immediately, while the work happens elsewhere.

Source: https://university.eugo.io/glossary/future

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Futures are what let your code keep running while the cluster works. You convert a future into a value with get(), which blocks until the result is ready.

## Related terms

- [get()](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/get) — The eugo.hpc call that resolves one or more futures into actual values, blocking until they are ready.
- [Task](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/task) — One unit of distributed work: a single call to a function decorated with the distribute decorator. Tasks are stateless, so each call starts fresh.
- [distribute decorator](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/distribute-decorator) — The eugo.hpc decorator that turns a function into a distributed task, or a class into an actor. A decorated call returns a future instead of a value.