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Discussion on: How YOU can make your .NET programs more responsive with async/await in .NET Core, C# and VS Code

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slavius profile image
Slavius •

TPL and async/await have nothing in common. I can write code like:

// Calculate prime numbers using a simple (unoptimized) algorithm.

IEnumerable<int> numbers = Enumerable.Range (3, 100000-3);

var parallelQuery = 
  from n in numbers.AsParallel()
  where Enumerable.Range (2, (int) Math.Sqrt (n)).All (i => n % i > 0)
  select n;

int[] primes = parallelQuery.ToArray();
);

and converting it to async/await will not make it any faster if not the opposite.

Async/await has its specialized use cases when calling a method actually needs to spawn another thread (be it a networking or filesystem thread) that pre-empting your own thread within the operating system actually allows for other threads to run.
Please do not make async/await a golden hammer when it is clearly not.

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softchris profile image
Chris Noring •

I appreciate your feedback. Yes, the article is about making programs be more responsive in those specific use cases, i.e File system operations, Web Request.. My examples should have been about that. I also wanted to show how Tasks and async/await worked together, which is why I opted for simpler tasks that didn't do those things. But you are right, it's not a golden hammer, but used correctly can greatly improve your program

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slavius profile image
Slavius •

I didn't want to be rude but IMHO each article should start with a preface where there is mentioned for what it is discussed technology/framework best suited and where it is not.
I appreciate you bringing this topic into focus as it is important. It is rare to see a server with single core nowdays, and parallel programming should be understood by most programmers.