.NET Tasks Documentation

Welcome to the .NET Tasks Documentation

Tasks are the primary way to work with asynchronous operations in .NET. They provide a powerful abstraction over Thread handling, enable composition, and simplify error handling.

Quick Start

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        int result = await ComputeAsync(5);
        Console.WriteLine($"Result: {result}");
    }

    static Task<int> ComputeAsync(int value) =>
        Task.Run(() => {
            // Simulate work
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            return value * value;
        });
}

Run the example above to see a basic asynchronous computation using Task.Run and await.

Key Concepts

• Task Lifecycle: Created → Running → RanToCompletion / Faulted / Canceled.
• Continuation: Use .ContinueWith or await to chain tasks.
• Exception Handling: Exceptions are captured and re‑thrown when awaited.
• Cancellation: Leverage CancellationToken to abort work cooperatively.

Samples & Playground