.NET Parallel Programming

Async Targeting Pack for Visual Studio 11 now available for .NET 4 and Silverlight 5

April 26, 2012 Apr 26, 2012 04/26/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

We’re happy to announce that you can now download an Async Targeting Pack for Visual Studio 11 that lets you target .NET 4 and Silverlight 5.  The included DLLs address the previously discussed issue of the Visual Studio 11 Beta compilers being incompatible with the AsyncCtpLibrary* DLLs from the Async CTP; with this targeting pack...

Using await with WinRT async operations

April 24, 2012 Apr 24, 2012 04/24/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

Over on the Windows 8 app developer blog, I've written a blog post about using await with WinRT.  I hope you enjoy it...

Should I expose synchronous wrappers for asynchronous methods?

April 13, 2012 Apr 13, 2012 04/13/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

In a previous post Should I expose asynchronous wrappers for synchronous methods?, I discussed “async over sync,” the notion of using synchronous functionality asynchronously and the benefits that doing so may or may not yield. The other direction of “sync over async” is also interesting to explore. Avoid Exposing ...

Async/Await FAQ

April 12, 2012 Apr 12, 2012 04/12/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

From time to time, I receive questions from developers which highlight either a need for more information about the new “async” and “await” keywords in C# and Visual Basic. I’ve been cataloguing these questions, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to share my answers to them.Conceptual OverviewWhere can ...

Are deadlocks still possible with await?

April 12, 2012 Apr 12, 2012 04/12/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

Developers familiar with parallel programming are also familiar with a wide range of potential problems that can occur when practicing the art.  One of the most well-known issues is “deadlock,” where two or more operations are waiting on each other to complete in a manner such that none of them will be able to complete.I&rsquo...

Overriding Stream Asynchrony

April 6, 2012 Apr 6, 2012 04/6/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

In .NET 4.5 Beta, the Stream class provides multiple virtual methods related to reading and writing: Read, BeginRead / EndRead, ReadAsync Write, BeginWrite / EndWrite, WriteAsync Flush, FlushAsync CopyToAsync As a developer deriving from Stream, it’s helpful to understand what the base implementations do and when you can and ...

Do I need to dispose of Tasks?

March 25, 2012 Mar 25, 2012 03/25/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

I get this question a lot: “Task implements IDisposable and exposes a Dispose method.  Does that mean I should dispose of all of my tasks?” SummaryHere’s my short answer to this question: “No.  Don’t bother disposing of your tasks.”Here’s my medium-length answer: “No.  Don&...

Should I expose asynchronous wrappers for synchronous methods?

March 24, 2012 Mar 24, 2012 03/24/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

Lately I’ve received several questions along the lines of the following, which I typically summarize as “async over sync”: In my library, I have a method “public T Foo();”.  I’m considering exposing an asynchronous method that would simply wrap the synchronous one, e.g. “public Task<T> ...

Is it ok to use nested Parallel.For loops?

March 14, 2012 Mar 14, 2012 03/14/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

Every now and then, I get this question: “is it ok to use nested Parallel.For loops?” The short answer is “yes.”  As is often the case, the longer answer is, well, longer. Typically when folks ask this question, they’re concerned about one of two things.  First, they’re concerned that each nested loop will assume it “...

Are you using TPL Dataflow? We’d love to know!

March 6, 2012 Mar 6, 2012 03/6/12

Stephen Toub - MSFT

Are you using the new System.Threading.Tasks.Dataflow.dll library, either from its CTPs or from the .NET 4.5 Developer Preview or Beta?  We'd love to hear about it, and if you have time, what your experiences have been (good or bad).  What kind of solution are you building, and how are you using TPL Dataflow in it?  Has the ...