Using $.Deferred() with nested ajax calls in a loop

Yeah, using Deferred is the way to do that:

function a() {
    var def = $.Deferred();

    $.ajax("http://url1").done(function(data){
        var requests = [];

        for (var i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
             requests.push(b());
        }

        $.when.apply($, requests).then(function() { def.resolve(); });
    });

    return def.promise();
}

// called by a()
function b() {
    var def = $.Deferred(),
        requests = [];

    for (var i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
        requests.push($.ajax("http://url2").done(function(data){
            // do something
            console.log('b called');
        });
    }

    $.when.apply($, requests).then(function() { def.resolve(); });

    return def.promise();
}

function main(){
    $.when(a()).done(function(){
        console.log('all completed');
    });
}

//EDIT: Replaced .pipe with .done.