Anonymous function converted to a void returning delegate cannot return a value

Question

I have a general question: in the C# code below thread tFour can not be created and the compiler shows me the following error: "Anonymous function converted to a void returning delegate cannot return a value"

THE CODE

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace DelegatesAndLambda
{
    class Program
    {
        public static int ThrowNum(object a)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(a);
            return 2 * (int)a;
        }
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Func<int> newF = delegate () { int x = ThrowNum(2); return x; };
            Thread tOne = new Thread( delegate () { int x = ThrowNum(2); });
            Thread tTwo= new Thread(()=> ThrowNum(2));
            Thread tThree = new Thread(() => newF());
            Thread tFour = new Thread(delegate () { int x = ThrowNum(2); return x;});
        }
    }
}

However, threads tOne, tTwo and tThree are created without an error. So why does the lambda expression allows to pass a method delegate with return (non-void) value and multiple parameters (ThrowNum(2), newF()) while an anonymous method with return value ( delegate () { int x = ThrowNum(2); return x;}) defined using the delegate keyword can not be passed? I thought in both cases we deal with anonymous methods? I do know that Thread accepts only two types of signatures : void DoSomething() and void DoSomething(object o) but what is the major difference between initializations of tTwo and tFour using the same(?) anonymous method? I have been trying to find answer for a while but did not succeed. Thanks

Solution

Just because an expression-bodied lambda expression has a result doesn't mean it's used. It's fine for a lambda expression that returns a result to be converted to a delegate with a void return type, so long as its body is a valid statement expression. Here's a simple example:

using System;

class Test
{
    static int Method() => 5;

    static void Main()
    {
        Action action = () => Method();
    }
}

That's fine, because Method() is be a valid statement expression. It just calls the method, and ignores the result. This would not be valid, because 1 + 1 isn't a valid statement expression:

// error CS0201: Only assignment, call, increment, decrement,
//               await, and new object expressions can be used as a statement
Action action = () => 1 + 2;

There's no such thing as an expression-bodied anonymous method, so thing become a bit simpler: you just can't return a value from an anonymous method and convert that anonymous method to a delegate type with a void return type.

The relevant part of the C# 5 ECMA standard is 11.7.1:

Specifically, an anonymous function F is compatible with a delegate type D provided:

• ...
• If the body of F is an expression, and either D has a void return type or F is async and D has the return type Task, then when each parameter of F is given the type of the corresponding parameter in D, the body of F is a valid expression (w.r.t §12) that would be permitted as a statement-expression (§13.7).

Comments

[user3786219]

Hi Jon. Thanks for the response. Where can I read about C# 5 ECMA standard? Specifically about anonymous functions and their delegates?

[Jon Skeet]

Well you can get the standard for free, and read as much of it as you want :) ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-334.htm