Await/Async or SocketAsyncEventArgs?

Question

So I've allready written a tcp-server with SocketAsyncEventArgs and socket.***Async methods. But I do love the await/async way of writing code using the Stream.ReadAsync and Stream.WriteAsync methods.

Is there any difference performance/memory wise, or do I simply make a difference in syntax?

Answer 1

The advantages of using the socketasynceventargs is to reduce strain on the garbage collector and to keep the buffers of the sockets grouped to prevent out of memory exception.

By using a pool of SocketAsyncEventArgs, you can eliminate the need to create and collect the IAsyncResult for every call to read and write.

Secondly, each SocketAsyncEventArgs can be assigned a portion of a large byte[] block. This prevents memory fragmentation which helps reduce the memory footprint. Although this can technically also be done with the Begin/End calls, it is easier to permenantly assign each SocketAsyncEventArgs with its own buffer instead of assigning a block every time that a read or write is called with the Begin/End methods.

One last difference that can be important is that according to the MSDN Library, the Begin/End Send method may block while the socket buffer is full. The SocketAsyncEventArgs will not block, instead, only a certain amount of bytes will be written depending on the amount of space in the sockets buffer, the callback will specify the amount of bytes written.

The advantages are really not noticeable unless it is an edge case. Unless you run into either of the problems specified, I suggest that you choose what is most comfortable and maintainable for you.