Practical example where Tuple can be used in .Net 4.0?

Question

I have seen the Tuple introduced in .Net 4 but I am not able to imagine where it can be used. We can always make a Custom class or Struct.

Answer 1

Tuples are great for doing multiple async IO operations at a time and returning all the values together. Here is the examples of doing it with and without Tuple. Tuples can actually make your code clearer!

Without (nasty nesting!):

Task.Factory.StartNew(() => data.RetrieveServerNames())
    .ContinueWith(antecedent1 =>
        {
            if (!antecedent1.IsFaulted)
            {
                ServerNames = KeepExistingFilter(ServerNames, antecedent1.Result);
                Task.Factory.StartNew(() => data.RetrieveLogNames())
                    .ContinueWith(antecedent2 =>
                        {
                            if (antecedent2.IsFaulted)
                            {
                                LogNames = KeepExistingFilter(LogNames, antecedent2.Result);
                                Task.Factory.StartNew(() => data.RetrieveEntryTypes())
                                    .ContinueWith(antecedent3 =>
                                        {
                                            if (!antecedent3.IsFaulted)
                                            {
                                                EntryTypes = KeepExistingFilter(EntryTypes, antecedent3.Result);
                                            }
                                        });
                            }
                        });
            }
        });

With Tuple

Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
    {
        List serverNames = data.RetrieveServerNames();
        List logNames = data.RetrieveLogNames();
        List entryTypes = data.RetrieveEntryTypes();
        return Tuple.Create(serverNames, logNames, entryTypes);
    }).ContinueWith(antecedent =>
        {
            if (!antecedent.IsFaulted)
            {
                ServerNames = KeepExistingFilter(ServerNames, antecedent.Result.Item1);
                LogNames = KeepExistingFilter(LogNames, antecedent.Result.Item2);
                EntryTypes = KeepExistingFilter(EntryTypes, antecedent.Result.Item3);
            }
        });

If you were using an anonymous function with an implied type anyway then you aren't making the code less clear by using the Tuple. Retuning a Tuple from a method? Use sparingly when code clarity is key, in my humble opinion. I know functional programming in C# is hard to resist, but we have to consider all of those old clunky "object oriented" C# programmers.