Regarding usage of Task.Start() , Task.Run() and Task.Factory.StartNew()

Question

I just saw 3 routines regarding TPL usage which do the same job; here is the code:

public static void Main()
{
    Thread.CurrentThread.Name = "Main";

    // Create a task and supply a user delegate by using a lambda expression. 
    Task taskA = new Task( () => Console.WriteLine("Hello from taskA."));
    // Start the task.
    taskA.Start();

    // Output a message from the calling thread.
    Console.WriteLine("Hello from thread '{0}'.", 
                  Thread.CurrentThread.Name);
    taskA.Wait();
}

public static void Main()
{
    Thread.CurrentThread.Name = "Main";

    // Define and run the task.
    Task taskA = Task.Run( () => Console.WriteLine("Hello from taskA."));

    // Output a message from the calling thread.
    Console.WriteLine("Hello from thread '{0}'.", 
                      Thread.CurrentThread.Name);
    taskA.Wait();
}

public static void Main()
{
    Thread.CurrentThread.Name = "Main";

    // Better: Create and start the task in one operation. 
    Task taskA = Task.Factory.StartNew(() => Console.WriteLine("Hello from taskA."));

    // Output a message from the calling thread.
    Console.WriteLine("Hello from thread '{0}'.", 
                    Thread.CurrentThread.Name);

    taskA.Wait();                  
}

I just do not understand why MS gives 3 different ways to run jobs in TPL because they all work the same: Task.Start(), Task.Run() and Task.Factory.StartNew().

Tell me, are Task.Start(), Task.Run() and Task.Factory.StartNew() all used for the same purpose or do they have different significance?

When should one use Task.Start(), when should one use Task.Run() and when should one use Task.Factory.StartNew()?

Please help me to understand their real usage as per scenario in great detail with examples, thanks.

Answer 1

Task.Run is a shorthand for Task.Factory.StartNew with specific safe arguments:

Task.Factory.StartNew(
    action, 
    CancellationToken.None, 
    TaskCreationOptions.DenyChildAttach, 
    TaskScheduler.Default);

It was added in .Net 4.5 to help with the increasingly frequent usage of async and offloading work to the ThreadPool.

Task.Factory.StartNew (added with TPL in .Net 4.0) is much more robust. You should only use it if Task.Run isn't enough, for example when you want to use TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning (though it's unnecessary when the delegate is async. More on that on my blog: LongRunning Is Useless For Task.Run With async-await). More on Task.Factory.StartNew in Task.Run vs Task.Factory.StartNew

Don't ever create a Task and call Start() unless you find an extremely good reason to do so. It should only be used if you have some part that needs to create tasks but not schedule them and another part that schedules without creating. That's almost never an appropriate solution and could be dangerous. More in "Task.Factory.StartNew" vs "new Task(...).Start"

In conclusion, mostly use Task.Run, use Task.Factory.StartNew if you must and never use Start.