Question

I’m currently designing some internal APIs where I use the Async CTP and its new await/async keywords.

Are there any guidelines or best practices on how these APIs should be designed?

Specifically:

• Should I provide both a synchronous and an asynchronous version of methods? (i.e. Task DoStuffAsync() and void DoStuff()
• Should all async methods I expose be in the form async Task<T> GetStuffAsync() (i.e. method name end with Async) or is it ok to to have something named GetStuff() be awaitable?

I do understand that it’s not all black or white here, and that it depends on the method in question, but I’m looking for general guidelines.

Answer 1

Hard to find the nuggets, most publications are focused on the client programming side. Good stuff is:

• A white paper titled The Task-based Asynchronous Pattern. Download is here (note: slow to respond this morning).
• Stephen Toub had a presentation at Windows Build that talked about optimizing the pattern, many important hints. There’s a video, also available in print.

Do keep in mind this is all preview, important details may change before this ships.