Any difference between “await Task.Run(); return;” and “return Task.Run()”?

Question

Is there any conceptual difference between the following two pieces of code:

async Task TestAsync() 
{
    await Task.Run(() => DoSomeWork());
}


        

Answer 1

The two examples do differ. When a method is marked with the async keyword, the compiler generates a state-machine behind the scenes. This is what is responsible for resuming continuations once an awaitable has been awaited.

In contrast, when a method is not marked with async you are losing the ability to await awaitables. (That is, within the method itself; the method can still be awaited by its caller.) However, by avoiding the async keyword, you are no longer generating the state-machine, which can add a fair bit of overhead (lifting locals to fields of the state-machine, additional objects to the GC).

In examples like this, if you are able to avoid async-await and return an awaitable directly, it should be done to improve the efficiency of the method.

See this question and this answer which are very similar to your question and this answer.

Answer 2

1. The first method does not even compile.

   Since 'Program.TestAsync()' is an async method that returns 'Task', a return keyword must not be followed by an object expression. Did you intend to return 'Task<T>'?

   It has to be

   async Task TestAsync()
   {
       await Task.Run(() => DoSomeWork());
   }
   

2. There is major conceptual difference between these two. The first one is asynchronous, the second one is not. Read Async Performance: Understanding the Costs of Async and Await to get a little more about internals of async/await.

3. They do generate different code.

   .method private hidebysig 
       instance class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task TestAsync () cil managed 
   {
       .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncStateMachineAttribute::.ctor(class [mscorlib]System.Type) = (
           01 00 25 53 4f 54 65 73 74 50 72 6f 6a 65 63 74
           2e 50 72 6f 67 72 61 6d 2b 3c 54 65 73 74 41 73
           79 6e 63 3e 64 5f 5f 31 00 00
       )
       .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute::.ctor() = (
           01 00 00 00
       )
       // Method begins at RVA 0x216c
       // Code size 62 (0x3e)
       .maxstack 2
       .locals init (
           [0] valuetype SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1',
           [1] class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task,
           [2] valuetype [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder
       )
   
       IL_0000: ldloca.s 0
       IL_0002: ldarg.0
       IL_0003: stfld class SOTestProject.Program SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'::'<>4__this'
       IL_0008: ldloca.s 0
       IL_000a: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder::Create()
       IL_000f: stfld valuetype [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'::'<>t__builder'
       IL_0014: ldloca.s 0
       IL_0016: ldc.i4.m1
       IL_0017: stfld int32 SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'::'<>1__state'
       IL_001c: ldloca.s 0
       IL_001e: ldfld valuetype [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'::'<>t__builder'
       IL_0023: stloc.2
       IL_0024: ldloca.s 2
       IL_0026: ldloca.s 0
       IL_0028: call instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder::Start<valuetype SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'>(!!0&)
       IL_002d: ldloca.s 0
       IL_002f: ldflda valuetype [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder SOTestProject.Program/'<TestAsync>d__1'::'<>t__builder'
       IL_0034: call instance class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncTaskMethodBuilder::get_Task()
       IL_0039: stloc.1
       IL_003a: br.s IL_003c
   
       IL_003c: ldloc.1
       IL_003d: ret
   } // end of method Program::TestAsync
   

   and

   .method private hidebysig 
       instance class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task TestAsync2 () cil managed 
   {
       // Method begins at RVA 0x21d8
       // Code size 23 (0x17)
       .maxstack 2
       .locals init (
           [0] class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task CS$1$0000
       )
   
       IL_0000: nop
       IL_0001: ldarg.0
       IL_0002: ldftn instance class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task SOTestProject.Program::'<TestAsync2>b__4'()
       IL_0008: newobj instance void class [mscorlib]System.Func`1<class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task>::.ctor(object, native int)
       IL_000d: call class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task::Run(class [mscorlib]System.Func`1<class [mscorlib]System.Threading.Tasks.Task>)
       IL_0012: stloc.0
       IL_0013: br.s IL_0015
   
       IL_0015: ldloc.0
       IL_0016: ret
   } // end of method Program::TestAsync2
   

Answer 3

One major difference is in exception propagation. An exception, thrown inside an async Task method, gets stored in the returned Task object and remains dormant until the task gets observed via await task, task.Wait(), task.Result or task.GetAwaiter().GetResult(). It is propagated this way even if thrown from the synchronous part of the async method.

Consider the following code, where OneTestAsync and AnotherTestAsync behave quite differently:

static async Task OneTestAsync(int n)
{
    await Task.Delay(n);
}

static Task AnotherTestAsync(int n)
{
    return Task.Delay(n);
}

// call DoTestAsync with either OneTestAsync or AnotherTestAsync as whatTest
static void DoTestAsync(Func<int, Task> whatTest, int n)
{
    Task task = null;
    try
    {
        // start the task
        task = whatTest(n);

        // do some other stuff, 
        // while the task is pending
        Console.Write("Press enter to continue");
        Console.ReadLine();
        task.Wait();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.Write("Error: " + ex.Message);
    }
}

If I call DoTestAsync(OneTestAsync, -2), it produces the following output:

Press enter to continue
Error: One or more errors occurred.await Task.Delay
Error: 2nd

Note, I had to press Enter to see it.

Now, if I call DoTestAsync(AnotherTestAsync, -2), the code workflow inside DoTestAsync is quite different, and so is the output. This time, I wasn't asked to press Enter:

Error: The value needs to be either -1 (signifying an infinite timeout), 0 or a positive integer.
Parameter name: millisecondsDelayError: 1st

In both cases Task.Delay(-2) throws at the beginning, while validating its parameters. This might be a made-up scenario, but in theory Task.Delay(1000) may throw too, e.g., when the underlying system timer API fails.

On a side note, the error propagation logic is yet different for async void methods (as opposed to async Task methods). An exception raised inside an async void method will be immediately re-thrown on the the current thread's synchronization context (via SynchronizationContext.Post), if the current thread has one (SynchronizationContext.Current != null). Otherwise, it will be re-thrown via ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem). The caller doesn't have a chance to handle this exception on the same stack frame.

I posted some more details about TPL exception handling behaviour here and here.

---

Q: Is it possible to mimic the exception propagation behavior of async methods for non-async Task-based methods, so that the latter doesn't throw on the same stack frame?

A: If really needed, then yes, there is a trick for that:

// async
async Task<int> MethodAsync(int arg)
{
    if (arg < 0)
        throw new ArgumentException("arg");
    // ...
    return 42 + arg;
}

// non-async
Task<int> MethodAsync(int arg)
{
    var task = new Task<int>(() => 
    {
        if (arg < 0)
            throw new ArgumentException("arg");
        // ...
        return 42 + arg;
    });

    task.RunSynchronously(TaskScheduler.Default);
    return task;
}

Note however, under certain conditions (like when it's too deep on the stack), RunSynchronously could still execute asynchronously.

---

Another notable difference is that the async/await version is more prone to dead-locking on a non-default synchronization context. E.g., the following will dead-lock in a WinForms or WPF application:

static async Task TestAsync()
{
    await Task.Delay(1000);
}

void Form_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TestAsync().Wait(); // dead-lock here
}

Change it to a non-async version and it won't dead-lock:

Task TestAsync() 
{
    return Task.Delay(1000);
}

The nature of the dead-lock is well explained by Stephen Cleary in his blog.

Answer 4

What is the difference between

async Task TestAsync() 
{
    await Task.Delay(1000);
}

and

Task TestAsync() 
{
    return Task.Delay(1000);
}

?

I am confused by this question. Let me try to clarify by responding to your question with another question. What's the difference between?

Func<int> MakeFunction()
{
    Func<int> f = ()=>1;
    return ()=>f();
}

and

Func<int> MakeFunction()
{
    return ()=>1;
}

?

Whatever the difference between my two things is, the same difference is between your two things.