You see where your innocent-seeming comments can lead...?

[PIEBALDconsult]

I mentioned something I had been thinking of doing and @Graeme_Grant replied that PowerShell can already do that.

So I had no choice(!) but to go ahead and begin developing a framework which I could use to leverage PowerShell to run not-yet-compiled C# in an ad hoc manner via PowerShell. And it works!

I had to whip up some basic frameworky stuff, like the command-line parser (mostly torn from a more robust one I have) and some basic ADO.net stuff.
All of which gets munged together with a C-preprocessor to produce a .ps1 file which then gets passed to PowerShell (in a BAT file).
I won't bore/dazzle you with the code (about 18K of it), but I can use it like this:

Add-Type -ReferencedAssemblies System.Data , System.Xml -TypeDefinition @"

# include <PSCS.h>
# include <PSCS.ADO.net.cs>

namespace PSCS
{
  using PSCS.ADO ;

  using ParameterList=System.Collections.Generic.List<System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,object>> ;

  public static partial class PSCS_Demo
  {
    public static int
    Main
    (
    )
    {
      int result = 0 ;

      PSCS.CommandLine args = PSCS.CommandLine.Split() ;

      try
      {
        System.Xml.XmlNode dbspec ;

        string cmd ;

        if ( args.TryGetDbSpec ( "%DbSpecConfig%" , out dbspec ) && args.TryGetSwitch ( "SqlQuery" , out cmd ) && ( cmd != null ) )
        {
          ParameterList parm = new ParameterList ( args.SwitchCount ) ;

          foreach ( System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,string> kvp in args.Switches )
          {
            parm.Add ( new System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,object> ( kvp.Key , kvp.Value ) ) ;
          }

          result += dbspec.Connect().DumpReader ( cmd , 30 , parm ) ;
        }
      }
      catch ( System.Exception exc )
      {
        result = args.Dump() ;

        System.Console.Write ( "\r\n{0}" , exc ) ;
      }

      return ( result ) ;
    }
  }
}
"@

[Environment]::Exit( [PSCS.PSCS_Demo]::Main() )

And here is an example of a run of that. This is, of course, intended only as a test and demonstration of this.

D:\>D:\project\pscs\PSCS_Demo /db=WordList /SqlQuery="SELECT 42 [Answer] , 3.14 [PI];SELECT * FROM [WordList] WHERE [SortedLetters] LIKE @pattern ORDER BY [Word];UPDATE [WordList] SET [Word] = UPPER([Word]) WHERE [SortedLetters] LIKE @pattern" /Pattern=OPST
PSCS_Demo.pscs

Answer,PI
42,3.14
Word,Howmany,Which,IsAlphabetic,Confidence,LetterPrint,UniqueLetters,SortedLetters,Numerology
OPTS,9,3983,True,77.27273,835584,OPST,OPST,70
OSTP,1,8,True,9.090909,835584,OPST,OPST,70
POST,12,4095,True,86.36364,835584,OPST,OPST,70
POTS,11,4031,True,81.81818,835584,OPST,OPST,70
SPOT,12,4095,True,86.36364,835584,OPST,OPST,70
STOP,12,4095,True,86.36364,835584,OPST,OPST,70
TOPS,11,4031,True,81.81818,835584,OPST,OPST,70
RecordsAffected = 7
15

So, the framework can be deployed to a server or other remote system as raw C# source files, then an application can be developed and deployed in a similar manner.
As long as there is a C-preprocessor available, it should just work. Just like Python :D .

(Yes, DOTNET RUN was also mentioned, but I haven't looked at that yet.)

[Graeme_Grant]

Nice work!

[Mircea Neacsu]

@PIEBALDconsult as you seem to be a lot into PowerShell (bleh, can't stand the thing!), this one just appeared in my GitHub feed: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell. Thought you might enjoy it.

[PIEBALDconsult]

I am not a fan of PowerShell (PTUI), I try to avoid it, but it provides a way to proof-of-concept this.
I would not use PowerShell for anything serious.

[theoldfool]

Powershell available for Linux now. Life is good! :)

[jeron1]

@PIEBALDconsult Perhaps, tip/trick type stuff?

[PIEBALDconsult]

If it can run C# code like this on Linux, then maybe I have an argument against Python. :)
I don't have access to a Linux box. I've never used Linux. I have no interest in ever using Linux

[Mircea Neacsu]

Use WSL. Download Ubuntu from Microsoft store and you have a pretty decent Linux box. That’s what I do to save me the trouble of having a separate Linux box.