ASP.NET Tutorial: Parallelism and Concurrency in ASP.NET Core

For online programs to operate as efficiently and responsively as possible, concurrency and parallelism must be controlled. As a proficient multitasking framework, ASP.NET Core offers capabilities to effectively manage several requests at once.

This blog will go over the specifics of how ASP.NET Core manages parallelism and concurrency, as well as important ideas and code snippets with practical applications to show how they’re used.

Concurrency also describes a system’s capacity to manage several requests or tasks at once and get better at each one. Multiple concurrent HTTP requests must be inspected in web applications in order to maintain concurrency.

An analogy in parallel

Several jobs are divided into smaller, independent tasks that be completed concurrently in order to achieve parallelism. Parallelism is the simultaneous execution of some actions while concurrency is the processing of several tasks at once. Async/Wait is concurrent in ASP.NET Core 1.

For instance, the async and await keywords allow asynchronous programming in ASP.NET Core. The responsiveness of your application will increase as a result of your ability to manage several simultaneous requests without interrupting threads.

1. Async/Wait

For example, ASP.NET Core accepts asynchronous programming using the async and await keywords. This allows you to handle multiple concurrent requests without blocking threads, improving application responsiveness.

<span class="token keyword keyword-public">public</span> <span class="token keyword keyword-async">async</span> <span class="token return-type class-name">Task<span class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>IActionResult<span class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span> <span class="token function">SomeAsyncAction</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> data <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token keyword keyword-await">await</span> <span class="token function">GetDataAsync</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token keyword keyword-return">return</span> <span class="token function">View</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>data<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>

<span class="token keyword keyword-public">public</span> <span class="token keyword keyword-async">async</span> <span class="token return-type class-name">Task<span class="token punctuation">&lt;</span><span class="token keyword keyword-string">string</span><span class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span> <span class="token function">GetDataAsync</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    <span class="token comment">// Simulate asynchronous operation</span>
    <span class="token keyword keyword-await">await</span> Task<span class="token punctuation">.</span><span class="token function">Delay</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token number">1000</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token keyword keyword-return">return</span> <span class="token string">"Async Data"</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>

public async Task<IActionResult> SomeAsyncAction()

{

var data = await GetDataAsync();

return View(data);

}

public async Task<string> GetDataAsync()

{

// Simulate asynchronous operation

await Task.Delay(1000);

return "Async Data";

}

2. Middleware for Concurrency

The ASP.NET Core pipeline’s middleware components can be used to manage and regulate concurrency. Custom concurrency logic can be introduced, for instance, using the Use(async (context, next) => { /* concurrency control logic */ await next(); }) pattern.

<span class="token keyword keyword-public">public</span> <span class="token return-type class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-void">void</span></span> <span class="token function">Configure</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token class-name">IApplicationBuilder</span> app<span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    app<span class="token punctuation">.</span><span class="token function">Use</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token keyword keyword-async">async</span> <span class="token punctuation">(</span>context<span class="token punctuation">,</span> next<span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token operator">=&gt;</span>
    <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
        <span class="token comment">// Custom concurrency control logic</span>
        <span class="token comment">// ...</span>

        <span class="token keyword keyword-await">await</span> <span class="token function">next</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    <span class="token comment">// Other middleware registrations</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app)

{

app.Use(async (context, next) =>

{

// Custom concurrency control logic

// ...

await next();

});

// Other middleware registrations

}

Parallelism in ASP.NET Core
1. Parallel Processing

The Parallel class or parallel LINQ (PLINQ) can be used to apply parallel processing within a controller action. When conducting separate computations, this is helpful.

<span class="token keyword keyword-public">public</span> <span class="token return-type class-name">IActionResult</span> <span class="token function">ParallelProcessing</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> data <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">GetCollectionOfData</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> result <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token keyword keyword-new">new</span> <span class="token constructor-invocation class-name">List<span class="token punctuation">&lt;</span><span class="token keyword keyword-string">string</span><span class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    Parallel<span class="token punctuation">.</span><span class="token function">ForEach</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>data<span class="token punctuation">,</span> item <span class="token operator">=&gt;</span>
    <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
        <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> processedItem <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">ProcessDataItem</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>item<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
        result<span class="token punctuation">.</span><span class="token function">Add</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>processedItem<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    <span class="token keyword keyword-return">return</span> <span class="token function">View</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>result<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>

public IActionResult ParallelProcessing()

{

var data = GetCollectionOfData();

var result = new List<string>();

Parallel.ForEach(data, item =>

{

var processedItem = ProcessDataItem(item);

result.Add(processedItem);

});

return View(result);

}

2. Parallel Tasks

Executing multiple tasks in parallel can be achieved using the Task.WhenAll method, allowing asynchronous parallelism.

<span class="token keyword keyword-public">public</span> <span class="token keyword keyword-async">async</span> <span class="token return-type class-name">Task<span class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>IActionResult<span class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span> <span class="token function">ParallelTaskExecution</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> task1 <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">LongRunningOperationAsync</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token class-name"><span class="token keyword keyword-var">var</span></span> task2 <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">AnotherOperationAsync</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    <span class="token keyword keyword-await">await</span> Task<span class="token punctuation">.</span><span class="token function">WhenAll</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>task1<span class="token punctuation">,</span> task2<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    <span class="token keyword keyword-return">return</span> <span class="token function">View</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>

public async Task<IActionResult> ParallelTaskExecution()

{

var task1 = LongRunningOperationAsync();

var task2 = AnotherOperationAsync();

await Task.WhenAll(task1, task2);

return View();

}

Real-world instances

Rich simultaneous request: Imagine a product search feature in an e-commerce platform. The application can effectively manage numerous user search queries at once by processing searches asynchronously, guaranteeing a responsive user experience even during periods of high demand.
Parallel image processing: It is possible to process several photos at once by taking use of a media-processing application’s parallelism. Processing times can be greatly decreased by, for instance, applying filters in parallel or changing the size of the images.

Conclusion

With tools and models that meet the needs of contemporary web applications, ASP.NET Core enables developers to smoothly handle concurrency and parallelism. Utilizing middleware, parallel processing, and asynchronous programming, programmers can design programs that are extremely scalable and capable of handling a variety of tasks.

When navigating ASP.NET Core, keep your application’s unique requirements in mind and select the appropriate concurrency and parallelism techniques. Achieving a balance between resourcefulness and responsiveness allows you to build web applications that are effective and seamless to use.

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