[FIXED] What's the difference between loop.create_task, asyncio.async/ensure_future and Task?

Issue

I'm a little bit confused by some asyncio functions. I see there is BaseEventLoop.create_task(coro) function to schedule a co-routine. The documentation for create_task says its a new function and for compatibility we should use asyncio.async(coro) which by referring to docs again I see is an alias for asyncio.ensure_future(coro) which again schedules the execution of a co-routine.

Meanwhile, I've been using Task(coro) for scheduling co-routine execution and that too seems to be working fine. so, what's the difference between all these?

Solution

As you've noticed, they all do the same thing.

asyncio.async had to be replaced with asyncio.ensure_future because in Python >= 3.5, async has been made a keyword[1].

create_task's raison d'etre[2]:

Third-party event loops can use their own subclass of Task for interoperability. In this case, the result type is a subclass of Task.

And this also means you should not create a Task directly, because different event loops might have different ways of creating a "Task".

Edit

Another important difference is that in addition to accepting coroutines, ensure_future also accepts any awaitable object; create_task on the other hand just accepts coroutines.

Answered By - Jashandeep Sohi