POWERSHELL: Why the hell “Powershell”?

Well, while we are starting to learn Powershell, just like me many people would have come across the thought “OK, the name sounds cool, it has a fancy logo, seems to be POWERful, I have heard the nerds talk about it, but ….. What the hell is it?”.

This is my first blog post about Powershell and I will try to answer the obvious question “Why the hell do we even need Powershell?”.

Powershell is basically a scripting language provided by Microsoft. It is a task automation and configuration management framework consisting of a classic command-line shell and associated scripting language built on the .NET framework. We all know about VBScript which is quite popular in the Windows scripting world, Powershell is similar, just with a lot more muscle than VBScript could afford to have.

A few things that make Powershell beautiful are:

It has full access to COM and WMI which makes Windows administration easier.
It provides you access to both local and remote systems with WSMan and CIM making it easier to communicate with devices.
Along with command-line, it also comes with a GUI-based ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment) where we can write, test, and debug scripts.
It gives you full access to the .NET classes making it easier for C#, C++ programmers, and VBScripters to learn Powershell.
It uses commands called cmdlets (pronounced command-lets), which use a “Verb-Noun” format, hence recognizing what cmdlet to use next becomes obvious. For example, if you want to write something on the host’s screen, the cmdlet for it is “Write-Host”. Want help then just type “Get-Help”.
Powershell has a very elaborate manual/help document integrated with it.
The most powerful thing about Powershell is that, from Windows 2012 onwards, all Microsoft tools like Exchange, SQL, etc. can be managed completely with the help of Powershell.
Unlike VBScript, Powershell makes it difficult to be used for malicious tasks like creating viruses, hence making it secure.
Powershell uses something called “aliases” to retain compatibility with other scripting tools like MS-DOS, Linux Shell, etc. So if you type in Powershell “dir”(DOS) or “ls”(Linux), you still get the results.
And the list goes on ….

So, ultimately answering the question, Powershell is what we can consider to be the best friend for a System-Administrator and other people who want to automate tasks, develop scripts to generate data and reports, and manage Windows applications.

I hope I was able to explain the essence of Powershell and how powerful a tool it is.

Do leave comments and keep visiting this blog for future posts.

POWERSHELL: Why the hell “Powershell”?

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A few things that make Powershell beautiful are:

Command Palette

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A few things that make Powershell beautiful are: