HISTORY OF DEV

August 15, 2012

.NET 4.5 and C# 5.0 with async/await released

MicrosoftThe software giant behind Windows, Office, Azure, and Xbox — founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. shipped .NET FrameworkMicrosoft's original managed runtime for Windows — CLR, BCL, and WinForms/ASP.NET stacks. 4.5 on August 15, 2012 with C# 5.0 `async` and `await` — bringing asynchronous programming into mainstream .NET.

What it was for

.NET FrameworkC# 5's async model let UIUser interface — the parts of software people see and interact with. and server code read linearly while awaiting I/O: `await client.GetAsync(url)` without callback pyramids. It shaped ASP.NETMicrosoft's framework for building web applications and APIs on the .NET platform. Web APIApplication programming interface — a defined way for programs to talk to each other or to a service., WPF apps, and later patterns across the .NET ecosystem before minimal APIs and channels.

Companies

  • Microsoft

Why it's here

Async/await in C# 5 changed how .NET developers wrote responsive servers and desktop apps.

Why it mattered

The compiler transformed async methods into state machines — a model later copied across languages.

What it solved

BeginInvoke, callbacks, and `Task.ContinueWith` made asynchronous .NET code hard to read and maintain.

Media

  • .NET Framework
    Image.NET Framework

    Microsoft, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Related