Should You 'Fire and Forget' Asynchronous Tasks, or Handle Exceptions Instead?

Overcoming the Perils of "Fire and Forget"

In the realm of asynchronous programming, it is often desirable to execute tasks without having to monitor their progress or handle exceptions they may raise. The "Fire and Forget" approach aims to achieve this, but its implementation can raise concerns about the handling of errors.

The Dilemma of Exception Swallowing

When using the "Fire and Forget" extension method that simply ignores exceptions, any bugs within the task's execution could go unnoticed, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences. To address this issue, the question suggests an alternative approach that awaits the task, ensuring that exceptions are thrown and escalated.

The Semantics of "Fire and Forget"

However, it's crucial to recognize that a "true" "Fire and Forget" approach implies a complete disregard for the task's outcome. In other words, we are not interested in when it completes or whether it succeeds or fails. This philosophy is rarely practical in real-world scenarios.

Exceptional Handling for "Fire and Forget"

If we wish to maintain the "Fire and Forget" approach while still handling specific exceptions, the question proposes an alternative extension method that can accept a list of acceptable exception types. This method would allow us to await the task but only throw an exception if it encountered an unacceptable error.

Conclusion

The decision of whether to use the traditional "Fire and Forget" approach or the modified version with exception handling depends on the desired semantics. If ensuring exception detection is paramount, the modified method is recommended. However, if truly independent execution without exception handling is preferred, the original method remains the better choice.

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