Task and Task of T types in C Sharp (C#) - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Working with Task and Task<T> Types in C#

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple program that simulates asynchronous work using Task and Task&lt;T&gt; in C#. This is common when you want to run operations without blocking the main program, like loading data or performing calculations in the background.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to create and use Task for running code asynchronously without a return value, and Task&lt;T&gt; for running code that returns a result asynchronously.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Task that runs a simple action asynchronously.

Create a Task<int> that returns a number asynchronously.

Use await to get the result from Task<int>.

Print the results to the console.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Asynchronous programming is used in apps to keep the interface responsive while doing work like loading files, fetching data from the internet, or processing large calculations.

💼 Career

Understanding <code>Task</code> and <code>Task&lt;T&gt;</code> is essential for C# developers working on modern applications, especially those involving UI, web services, or any background processing.

1

Create a simple Task

Write a line of code to create a Task called simpleTask that runs a lambda expression printing "Task is running" to the console.

C Sharp (C#)

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        // Create a Task called simpleTask that prints "Task is running"
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use new Task(() => ...) to create a Task that runs the code inside the lambda.

2

Create a Task<int> that returns a value

Add a line of code to create a Task<int> called numberTask that returns the number 42 asynchronously using a lambda expression.

C Sharp (C#)

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        Task simpleTask = new Task(() => Console.WriteLine("Task is running"));
        // Create a Task called numberTask that returns 42
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use new Task(() => 42) to create a Task that returns 42.

3

Start the tasks and await the result

Write code to start both simpleTask and numberTask using Start(). Then use await to get the integer result from numberTask into a variable called result.

C Sharp (C#)

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        Task simpleTask = new Task(() => Console.WriteLine("Task is running"));
        Task numberTask = new Task(() => 42);
        // Start both tasks
        // Await numberTask and store the result in variable 'result'
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Call Start() on each task to run them. Use await to get the result from numberTask.

4

Print the results

Write two Console.WriteLine statements: one to print "Simple task completed" after simpleTask finishes, and another to print "Number from task: {result}" using the result variable.

C Sharp (C#)

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        Task simpleTask = new Task(() => Console.WriteLine("Task is running"));
        Task numberTask = new Task(() => 42);
        simpleTask.Start();
        numberTask.Start();
        int result = await numberTask;
        // Wait for simpleTask to finish
        // Print "Simple task completed"
        // Print "Number from task: {result}"
        
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use await simpleTask to wait for it to finish before printing. Use Console.WriteLine with an interpolated string for the number.