c# - Why Use Async/Await Over Normal Threading or Tasks?

Question

I've been reading a lot about async and await, and at first I didn't get it because I didn't properly understand threading or tasks. But after getting to grips with both I wonder: why use async/await if you're comfortable with threads?

The asynchronousy of async/await can be done with Thread signaling, or Thread.Join() etc. Is it merely for time saving coding and "less" hassle?

Answer 1

Yes, it is a syntactic sugar that makes dealing with threads much easier, it also makes the code easier to maintain, because the thread management is done by run-time. await release the thread immediately and allows that thread or another one to pick up where it left off, even if done on the main thread.

Like other abstractions, if you want complete control over the mechanisms under the covers, then you are still free to implement similar logic using thread signaling, etc.

If you are interested in seeing what async/await produces then you can use Reflector or ILSpy to decompile the generated code.

Read What does async & await generate? for a description of what C# 5.0 is doing on your behalf.