C# 7 Async Main

What is Main Method?

The Main method is the entry point of a C# application. When the application is started, the Main method is the first method that is invoked.

• The Main is declared inside a class or struct.
• It must be static, and it need not be public.
• The enclosing class or struct is not required to be static.
• The return type of Main method can be either void or int.
• It can have one parameter of a string array containing any command-line arguments.

Before C# 7.1, four overloaded versions were considered valid signatures for the Main method in C#, as shown below.

static void Main();  
static int Main();  
static void Main(string[] args);  
static int Main(string[] args); 

From C# 7.1, it is also possible to define the Main method as async with any of the following additional overloads.

static Task Main();  
static Task < int > Main();  
static Task Main(string[] args);  
static Task < int > Main(string[] args); 

An async Main method enables you to use await in your Main method. Before C# 7.1, when you want to call the async method from the Main method, you need to add some boilerplate code, as shown below.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var helloWorld = GetHelloWorldAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
    Console.WriteLine(helloWorld);
}

static Task<string> GetHelloWorldAsync()
{
    return Task.FromResult("Hello Async World");
}

Now in C# 7.1, the syntax is simpler and easy to use only using the async main.

static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
    var helloWorld = await GetHelloWorldAsync();
    Console.WriteLine(helloWorld);
}

static Task<string> GetHelloWorldAsync()
{
    return Task.FromResult("Hello Async World");
}

If your program returns an exit code, you can declare a Main method that returns a Task<int>.

static async Task<int> Main()
{
    // This could also be replaced with the body
    // DoAsyncWork, including its await expressions:
    return await DoAsyncWork();
}