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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-29T07:27:49+00:00

I’m writing a C# program that runs two IRC connections at once. The connections

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I’m writing a C# program that runs two IRC connections at once.
The connections are threaded, and each thread starts like so:

MainThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(StartMainProcessor));
            MainThread.IsBackground = false;
            MainThread.Start();

private void StartMainProcessor() {
            MainProcessor.Bot.Connect();
            //while (true) { }
        }

Bot.Connect() looks like this (somewhat abridged version):

public void Connect() {
            try {
                Client.Connect(IRCHelper.SERVER, IRCHelper.PORT);
            }
            catch (CouldNotConnectException e) {
                Reconnect(true);
                return;
            }

            try {
                Client.Listen();
            }
            catch (Exception e) {
                Reconnect(false);
                return;
            }
        }

This works fine until the bot disconnects (which will always happen eventually, it’s the nature of IRC).
When it disconnects, Reconnect() is called, which starts a timer. When that timer expires the bot is meant to then call Connect() again. The reason for the timer is that an IRC server will refuse an immediate reconnection sometimes.

However, once the Connect() method has ended, the Thread ends, and the program (console application) exits. (Client.Listen() is blocking)

I had previously overcome this problem by adding while (true) { } in StartMainProcessor()… But this eats up 100% CPU, and I’d really prefer a different solution.

Thank you for your help. 🙂

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Sounds like you need a signaling construct. For example, you could use something like an AutoResetEvent to block the thread calling Reconnect, i.e. call Reconnect, start the timer and then block the thread. Then set the auto reset event in the timer expired event handler to allow the thread to continue (unblock) and call Connect.

    I’m not a fan of spinning the processor – wastes huge amounts of CPU resources when you add infinite loops or sleeps in loops.

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