Asynchronous Loop of jQuery Deferreds (promises)

For a waterfall, you need an async loop:

(function step(i, callback) {
    if (i < tasks.length)
        doTask(tasks[i]).then(function(res) {
            // since sequential, you'd usually use "res" here somehow
            step(i+1, callback);
        });
    else
        callback();
})(0, function(){
    console.log("all done");
});

I'd try using $().queue instead of $.Deferred here. Add the functions to a queue, and only call the next one when ready.

function doTask(taskNum, next){
    var time = Math.floor(Math.random()*3000);

    setTimeout(function(){
        console.log(taskNum);
        next();
    },time)
}

function createTask(taskNum){
    return function(next){
        doTask(taskNum, next);
    }
}

var tasks = [1,2,3];

for (var i = 0; i < tasks.length; i++){
    $(document).queue('tasks', createTask(tasks[i]));
}

$(document).queue('tasks', function(){
    console.log("all done");
});

$(document).dequeue('tasks');