Run two async tasks in parallel and collect results in .NET 4.5

Question

async Task<int> LongTask1() { 
  ...
  return 0; 
}

async Task<int> LongTask2() { 
  ...
  return 1; 
}

...
{
   Task<int> t1 = LongTask1();
   Task<int> t2 = LongTask2();
   await Task.WhenAll(t1,t2);
   //now we have t1.Result and t2.Result
}

You should use Task.Delay instead of Sleep for async programming and then use Task.WhenAll to combine the task results. The tasks would run in parallel.

public class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Go();
        }
        public static void Go()
        {
            GoAsync();
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
        public static async void GoAsync()
        {

            Console.WriteLine("Starting");

            var task1 = Sleep(5000);
            var task2 = Sleep(3000);

            int[] result = await Task.WhenAll(task1, task2);

            Console.WriteLine("Slept for a total of " + result.Sum() + " ms");

        }

        private async static Task<int> Sleep(int ms)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Sleeping for {0} at {1}", ms, Environment.TickCount);
            await Task.Delay(ms);
            Console.WriteLine("Sleeping for {0} finished at {1}", ms, Environment.TickCount);
            return ms;
        }
    }

While your Sleep method is async, Thread.Sleep is not. The whole idea of async is to reuse a single thread, not to start multiple threads. Because you've blocked using a synchronous call to Thread.Sleep, it's not going to work.

I'm assuming that Thread.Sleep is a simplification of what you actually want to do. Can your actual implementation be coded as async methods?

If you do need to run multiple synchronous blocking calls, look elsewhere I think!

To answer this point:

I want Sleep to be an async method so it can await other methods

you can maybe rewrite the Sleep function like this:

private static async Task<int> Sleep(int ms)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Sleeping for " + ms);
    var task = Task.Run(() => Thread.Sleep(ms));
    await task;
    Console.WriteLine("Sleeping for " + ms + "END");
    return ms;
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Starting");

    var task1 = Sleep(2000);
    var task2 = Sleep(1000);

    int totalSlept = task1.Result +task2.Result;

    Console.WriteLine("Slept for " + totalSlept + " ms");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

running this code will output :

Starting
Sleeping for 2000
Sleeping for 1000
*(one second later)*
Sleeping for 1000END
*(one second later)*
Sleeping for 2000END
Slept for 3000 ms

It's weekend now!

    public async void Go()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Start fosterage...");

        var t1 = Sleep(5000, "Kevin");
        var t2 = Sleep(3000, "Jerry");
        var result = await Task.WhenAll(t1, t2);

        Console.WriteLine($"My precious spare time last for only {result.Max()}ms");
        Console.WriteLine("Press any key and take same beer...");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private static async Task<int> Sleep(int ms, string name)
    {
            Console.WriteLine($"{name} going to sleep for {ms}ms :)");
            await Task.Delay(ms);
            Console.WriteLine("${name} waked up after {ms}ms :(";
            return ms;
    }