Parallelisation Talk Example – Parallel.Invoke

Parallel.Invoke is the most basic way to start many tasks as the same time. The method takes as many Action<…> based delegates as needed. The Task Parallel Library takes care of the actual scheduling, degree of parallelism etc. Parallel.Invoke itself blocks until all the tasks have completed.

In this example there are two tasks that simply output numbers and letters to the console. One task takes slightly longer than the other. The output shows each task as it runs along with an indication of when it finishes, as well as the overall program finishes.

Code Example One

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Start two tasks in parallel
        Parallel.Invoke(TaskOne, TaskTwo);

        Console.WriteLine("Finished");
        Console.ReadLine();
    }

    // This task simple outputs the numbers 0 to 9
    private static void TaskOne()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("TaskOne: {0}", i);
            Thread.Sleep(10);
        }
        Console.WriteLine("TaskOne Finished");
    }

    // This task simply outputs the letters A to K
    private static void TaskTwo()
    {
        for(char c = 'A'; c < 'K'; c++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("TaskTwo: {0}", c);
            Thread.Sleep(5);
        }
        Console.WriteLine("TaskTwo Finished");
    }
}

Example output

TaskOne: 0
TaskTwo: A
TaskOne: 1
TaskTwo: B
TaskTwo: C
TaskTwo: D
TaskOne: 2
TaskTwo: E
TaskOne: 3
TaskTwo: F
TaskTwo: G
TaskTwo: H
TaskOne: 4
TaskTwo: I
TaskTwo: J
TaskOne: 5
TaskTwo Finished
TaskOne: 6
TaskOne: 7
TaskOne: 8
TaskOne: 9
TaskOne Finished
Finished

Code Example: Variation using Task.Factory.StartNew

The Parallel.Invoke method is equivalent setting up a number of tasks using Task.Factory.StartNew(…) then Task.WaitAll(…).

The following code example shows the same code (Main method only) but using Task.Factory.StartNew:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    // Start two tasks in parallel
    Task t1 = Task.Factory.StartNew(TaskOne);
    Task t2 = Task.Factory.StartNew(TaskTwo);
    Task.WaitAll(t1, t2);

    Console.WriteLine("Finished");
    Console.ReadLine();
}