Book Summary: Concurrency in C# Cookbook: Asynchronous, Parallel, and Multithreaded Programming 2nd Edition by Stephen Cleary - October 2019
In the landscape of modern software systems, the importance and necessity of asynchronous, parallel, and multithreaded programming cannot be overstated. As software applications become increasingly complex and resource-intensive, traditional sequential programming approaches fall short of fully leveraging the available hardware capabilities and delivering responsive, efficient, and scalable solutions. Asynchronous programming enables non-blocking operations, allowing applications to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, which is crucial for handling I/O-bound operations, such as network requests and file processing, without causing unnecessary delays.
Parallel and multithreaded programming, on the other hand, empower applications to harness the power of multi-core processors, distributing CPU-bound tasks across multiple threads to achieve significant performance gains. In a world where responsiveness, scalability, and efficient resource utilization are paramount, embracing these programming paradigms is essential to building robust, high-performance software systems that can meet the demands of modern users and environments.
Concurrency in C# Cookbook is one of those books covering the mentioned topics in depth. In the following, you can read the chapter names along with a summary of each chapter.
- Chapter 1, "Async basics," provides an introduction to using async and await for asynchronous operations, focusing on naturally asynchronous tasks like HTTP requests and database commands.
- Chapter 2, "Asynchronous streams," explores the concept of receiving multiple data items asynchronously through asynchronous enumerables, discussing their differences from other data types.
- Chapter 3, "Parallel Basics," covers patterns for parallel programming, specifically targeting CPU-bound work and dividing it among multiple threads.
- Chapter 4, "Dataflow basics," explains TPL Dataflow, a powerful library for creating pipelines to send data through asynchronously, using a declarative coding style.
- Chapter 5, "System.Reactive basics," delves into LINQ and System.Reactive (Rx), treating events as sequences of data, and introducing new operators for handling time-related operations.
- Chapter 6, "Testing," focuses on unit testing concurrent code, showing that it can be done effectively using modern features and libraries.
- Chapter 7, "Interop," explores scenarios where asynchronous, parallel, and reactive approaches can be combined effectively, highlighting their complementary nature.
- Chapter 8, "Collections," introduces newer collections designed for concurrent or asynchronous use, including immutable and threadsafe collections.
- Chapter 9, "Cancellations," discusses the cancellation support introduced in .NET 4.0, explaining how cancellation can be requested and responded to, with a focus on using CancellationToken.
- Chapter 10, "Functional-friendly OOP," addresses the challenges that arise when combining asynchronous programming with traditional object-oriented programming, exploring friction points and solutions.
- Chapter 11, "Synchronization," covers common synchronization techniques used to manage concurrent access to shared data in .NET applications.
- Chapter 12, "Scheduling," explains the role of schedulers in deciding where code runs, discussing the various scheduler types in the .NET framework and their applications.
- Chapter 13, "Scenarios," presents various types and techniques to address common scenarios in concurrent programming, providing valuable insights and solutions.
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