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0 pointsspinningslate3y ago0 comments

>C#'s async is cooperative multithreading and this is pre-emptive multithreading. Both have different goals and they have their own place.

Yes, but that's not really the issue at hand. The issue is that async/await, as a particular _implementation_ of cooperative multi-tasking, has resulted in code bases dominated by async function declarations and bodies filled with awaits. Where, qualitatively, the volume of async/await code outweighs the actual need for concurrent/non-blocking execution.

>My expectation is if/when Java's Loom tech gains steam Microsoft will release its own pre-emptive thread pool into C# alongside async/await (again because they're different styles with different goals). Then everyone will be happy, ...right?

Maybe. That'll depend on whether they can address the viral nature of async. And it won't automatically get rid of the `xxxMethod/xxxMethodAsync` duality that has arisen. It'll also add yet more cognitive overload for developers ("should I use cooperative or pre-emptive multi-tasking here?").

EDIT: fixed spelling

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jayd163y ago

Personally I think the whole coloring controversy is overblown. Complaining about it is strange to me. The awaits must be there because that's what makes it cooperative and explicit not implicit and abstracted. It's like complaining about explicit memory management for garbage collection. GC is great but GC can't do things you can do explicitly. And unlike memory management, async/await is safe, just mildly verbose.

Async/await is probably the best at what it does well. You simply can't do the things that involve native thread management (among others) with implicitly scheduled green threads without locks or some other worse paradigm.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsspinningslate3y ago0 comments

>C#'s async is cooperative multithreading and this is pre-emptive multithreading. Both have different goals and they have their own place.

EDIT: fixed spelling

0 comments

jayd163y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse