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  3. I wish I liked Powershell

I wish I liked Powershell

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  • J Jan Holst Jensen2

    Or try to do consistent quoting to pass parameters to an external executable. It's mind-blowing that a fundamental feature for a scripting language - interfacing to other commands - is so complicated. I have in some instances ended up passing parameters to batch files as environment variables. That works reliably. And then there was the lovely incident with invisible files in an earlier version of PS. I called out to a batch file that created files on a network drive. Unfortunately, when I returned to PS the files were invisible until PS was restarted. Not a happy experience, when the PS was supposed to process backup files produced by the batch file. Caused me a good deal of lost hours - and backups! And yes, the function return value mystery. Who ever thought that was a good idea ? I have really tried to like PowerShell. It feels like it should be a major step up from MS-DOS scripting with proper flow control, error handling, etc. But now I try to stay away from it, as it usually ends up eating my time, especially when I need to make it talk to existing scripts. One success story: I did a PS script that read a file and processed it via a .NET library. That was easy, clear code, and no surprises.

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    Phil Benson
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Jan Holst Jensen2 wrote:

    One success story: I did a PS script that read a file and processed it via a .NET library. That was easy, clear code, and no surprises.

    Defeats the purpose really of having a "shell code" if you have to wrap .Net calls to get anything done... :laugh:

    Who the f*** is General Failure, and why is he reading my harddisk?

    Who the F*** is general failure and why is he reading my hard drive?

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    • H honey the codewitch

      It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

      Real programmers use butterflies

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      MikeTheFid
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      Totally agree and I am experiencing your pain. I haven't been able to find a decent book or tutorial that clears away the fog. It's like "unable to grok" was the highest design goal; followed closely by "unable to remember". So I rely on examples colleagues have written and live in hope that one day a beam of sunlight will break through the clouds. That and continuing to gain experience out of shear stubbornness! :)

      Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.

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      • H honey the codewitch

        It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

        Real programmers use butterflies

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        obermd
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        Every time I look at PS I feel like I'm looking at bastardized Perl.

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        • H honey the codewitch

          It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

          Real programmers use butterflies

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          MikeTheFid
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          If it was hard to create, it ought to be hard to use! ;) Seriously, I totally get your frustration. Stubbornness comes in handy sometimes.

          Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.

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          • H honey the codewitch

            It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

            Real programmers use butterflies

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            M Offline
            MSBassSinger
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            I have not updated this in 6 years, but it shows how to execute C# written as script. How to Execute External Uncompiled C# Code[^] and thus just use C# scripts to do something, instead of whatever the heck PowerShell is.

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            • H honey the codewitch

              It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

              Real programmers use butterflies

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              raddevus
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              It's fascinating to read the comments about how so many devs feel this way about PS language. I feel the same way. It's ugly, it's forgetable, it just feels forced. Glad I'm not alone in this.

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              • O obermd

                Every time I look at PS I feel like I'm looking at bastardized Perl.

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                raddevus
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                obermd wrote:

                I feel like I'm looking at bastardized Perl

                I am commiserating along with everyone about how ugly the PS language is and then I see your comparison to Perl and I'm like, "Oh, no, PS is all fine and good and maybe even beautiful after all. I mean, it's not Perl." :laugh: :laugh: Perl syntax just gives me shivers. :laugh:

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                • H honey the codewitch

                  It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

                  Real programmers use butterflies

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                  User 13224750
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  Our company got onboard with .NET in ~2000. When it came time to learn PowerShell many years ago (yes, 2.0) we had an instructor led class with a mix of developers & Windows and Linux Admins in it. Developers (me included at the time) seemed to get PS, while the Windows and Linux struggled with it. Linux admins especially since they are heavy duty scripting folks. Problem for them was it so very different than the shells they used on Linux. Fast forward to the present, those same Linux admins are using PowerShell and are quite good at it. Syntax always seemed a bit "clunky" to me, but the concepts were quite natural to me because of leaning .NET and C#.

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                  • H honey the codewitch

                    It seems so useful, i just can't stand the syntax. I couldn't even tell you why except I can't get my head around it. Just give me C# or something with a Shell object.

                    Real programmers use butterflies

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                    thorne999
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    The problem is time. I just don't have the time to learn such an obtuse syntax. Why didn't they just use C#. Given enough time we can learn anything, but actually we are never given enough time to completely learn anything. PS is yet another time sink. BTW the folks who made the comments about French cars were right, the question is WHY do the French insist on swimming up stream when the large majority of uses are intuitive and the French standard is not. Oh wait, was I discussing PS or French cars? Hummmmmm, I think both.

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                    • T thorne999

                      The problem is time. I just don't have the time to learn such an obtuse syntax. Why didn't they just use C#. Given enough time we can learn anything, but actually we are never given enough time to completely learn anything. PS is yet another time sink. BTW the folks who made the comments about French cars were right, the question is WHY do the French insist on swimming up stream when the large majority of uses are intuitive and the French standard is not. Oh wait, was I discussing PS or French cars? Hummmmmm, I think both.

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                      honey the codewitch
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      thorne999 wrote:

                      The problem is time. I just don't have the time to learn such an obtuse syntax. Why didn't they just use C#. Given enough time we can learn anything, but actually we are never given enough time to completely learn anything. PS is yet another time sink.

                      All of my this. :) ETA: It reminds me of SQL/DML/SML??? whatever the last one was called. They syntax is ridiculous and I find I have to go back to the reference way too much.

                      Real programmers use butterflies

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