Consider Renaming or Clarifying ReadAllAsync for Better Developer Experience (in System.Threading.Channels.ChannelReader<T>)

[muratbaseren]

Context:
The method name ReadAllAsync in System.Threading.Channels.ChannelReader can be misleading to developers at first glance. It suggests that it will read all currently available items from the channel at once, similar to a buffered batch read.

Observation:
In reality, ReadAllAsync() returns an IAsyncEnumerable and yields one item at a time until the channel is completed. It is functionally equivalent to an infinite loop consuming ReadAsync() internally. This can be confusing for those expecting a bulk or snapshot read behavior.

Suggestion:

• Consider improving documentation to highlight that this is a streaming reader that yields items as they arrive until the channel is closed.
• Alternatively, consider whether a more descriptive name like ReadUntilCompleteAsync() or StreamAllAsync() would reduce misinterpretation for first-time users.

Why it matters:
Clear naming improves developer onboarding, reduces misuse, and aligns expectation with behavior — especially for concurrency primitives where behavior clarity is critical.

Thanks for your great work on System.Threading.Channels — it's a powerful tool in building concurrent and producer/consumer systems.

[colejohnson66]

A better name might've been EnumerateAllAsync, but it can't be renamed, as that would break existing code. And the team would definitely not add some hypothetical EnumerateAllAsync just to have it forward to ReadAllAsync — it's a pointless overload that would only confuse people more.

[stephentoub]

Thanks for the suggestion. The docs are open source, and you're welcome to submit a PR clarifying the content if you think it can be improved. The relevant docs are here:
https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-api-docs/blob/465afa2c282eb79c0c0164cee23759d16f438fc2/xml/System.Threading.Channels/ChannelReader%601.xml#L217-L226
Thanks.