Learn PowerShell Scripting in a Month of Lunches

Chapter 1. Before you begin

Windows PowerShell—well, we suppose just PowerShell will do these days, because it’s available on more than just Microsoft Windows—is an interesting product. It was originally created to solve the specific problem of automating Windows administrative tasks, but frankly a much simpler “batch file” language would have sufficed. PowerShell’s inventor, Jeffrey Snover, and its entire product team, had a much grander vision. They wanted something that could appeal to a broad, diverse audience. In their vision, administrators might start very simply, by running commands to quickly accomplish administrative tasks—that’s what our previous book, Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches, focused on. They also imagined ...