MSDN .NET Documentation

Asynchronous Programming in .NET

Asynchronous programming enables responsive applications by allowing work to be performed without blocking the main thread. The async and await keywords simplify this model.

Key Concepts

• Task: Represents an asynchronous operation.
• async modifier: Marks a method as asynchronous.
• await operator: Suspends the method until the awaited Task completes.
• Exception handling with try/catch works naturally.
• Cancellation via CancellationToken.

Simple Example

public async Task<string> GetDataAsync()
{
    using var client = new HttpClient();
    var response = await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.example.com/data");
    return response;
}

Live Demo (JavaScript Simulation)

Run Async Demo

Best Practices

• Prefer async Task over async void except for event handlers.
• Avoid blocking calls like Task.Wait() in async code.
• Use configure await when appropriate: await task.ConfigureAwait(false).
• Leverage IAsyncEnumerable<T> for streaming data.
• Handle cancellation tokens early to free resources.