TaskEx: Async.startImmediateAsTask #142

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1. bartelink

   changed the title [-]TaskShims: Async.startImmediateAsTask[/-] [+]TaskEx: Async.startImmediateAsTask[/+] on Jan 10, 2023
2. abelbraaksma

   added

   feature requestNew feature or enhancement requestNew feature or enhancement request

   topic: task-exRelated to the proposed new TaskEx library, which should get its own oss havenRelated to the proposed new TaskEx library, which should get its own oss haven

   on Oct 29, 2023
3. abelbraaksma

   added this to the vFuture milestone on Mar 18, 2024
4. github-actions commented on Mar 10, 2026

   

   github-actionsbot

   on Mar 10, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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   🤖 This is an automated response from Repo Assist.

   Thanks for the detailed proposal, @bartelink! A few observations after reviewing the current codebase:

   Current state

   The library currently has AsyncExtensions (adds for x in taskSeq support inside async {}) and TaskExtensions (same for task {}), but no general TaskEx/Async-shim module yet. Issue #139 tracks that top-level effort.

   On the proposed API

   The core proposal is essentially a one-liner:

   module Async =
       let inline startImmediateAsTask ct (a: Async<'t>) =
           Async.StartImmediateAsTask(a, cancellationToken = ct)

   The value it adds is real: forcing the cancellation token to be an explicit positional argument makes it impossible to omit by accident (unlike the optional ?cancellationToken parameter on Async.StartImmediateAsTask itself). The ct-first, async-second ordering also enables clean pipelining.

   Naming

   Between startImmediateAsTask and executeAsTask:

   • startImmediateAsTask mirrors the BCL name, which aids discoverability.
   • executeAsTask is more concise but obscures the "runs on the current synchronisation context" semantics.

   My lean is toward startImmediateAsTask for consistency with F# Core naming conventions.

   Relationship to #141

   Issue #141 (and the open PR #321) addresses the complementary direction — Async.ofTask / awaitTaskCorrect — properly unwrapping AggregateException when bridging Task → Async. Together, Async.ofTask and Async.startImmediateAsTask form a tidy bidirectional bridge.

   Implementation readiness

   This is straightforward to implement. It would fit naturally alongside whatever comes out of #139/#141 as a small TaskEx or Async-extension module. The main open question is whether this belongs in this library at all (vs. a standalone shim package), but given #139 is already tracking broader TaskEx additions, this seems in scope.

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5. bartelink commented on Mar 18, 2026

   

   bartelink

   on Mar 18, 2026

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   @T-Gro this issue straddles the first two concerns in our context setting to/fro:

   1. startImmediateAsTask with only a casing difference would be a bad idea (especially as there is a subtle parameter re-ordering involved)
   2. but it does put cancellation front and center which aligns with that principle.

   So, where would you fall on this one?

   1. Can't/shouldn't do, even though it removes a pitfall and ugliness from a relatively common ask, it's not interesting enough for FSharp.Core, and having a PascalCase and a camelCase version of the same thing just makes things confusing
   2. But if we use some other name like executeAsTask, it is toolable and has clear semantics. The naming and semantics should align with Add Async.RunImmediate fsharp/fslang-suggestions#1042
   3. something else?

   As with the general observation that doing Async.Await will likely establish useful precedents for Task.ignore and friends, perhaps Task.ignore can inform the decision process here?
6. bartelink commented on May 9, 2026

   

   bartelink

   on May 9, 2026

   Last edited by bartelink

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   Closing as a pipeline friendly function that forces a CancellationToken to be supplied is included in fsharp/fslang-suggestions#1467 (Task.runAsync Task.startAsyncImmediate)
7. bartelink

   closed this as duplicateon May 9, 2026