14 DAY TRIAL // Windows PowerShell Language Specification Version 2.0 is available free of charge via the Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft is offering for download a document designed to provide insight into v2.0 of PowerShell.
System administrators that are routinely taking leveraging the command-line shell and scripting language in their work might want to have a look at the resource available for download from Microsoft.
The introduction to the Windows PowerShell Language Specification 2.0 starts with an explanation of why PowerShell is different from other shells.
The software giant reveals that with PowerShell, admins have the option of using a solution capable of processing objects and not text.
“An object is a data entity that has properties (i.e., characteristics) and methods (i.e., actions that can be performed on the object). All objects of the same type have the same base set of properties and methods, but each instance of an object can have different property values,” the company notes.
As admins will testify, the main advantage of leveraging objects becomes evident in pipelining scenarios.
Essentially, with PowerShell, the output from one program can be pumped directly into another, which is not possible with text.
“PowerShell includes a very rich scripting language that supports constructs for looping, conditions, flow-control, and variable assignment. This language has syntax features and keywords similar to those used in the C# programming language,” the company adds.
“There are four kinds of commands in PowerShell: scripts, functions and methods, cmdlets, and native commands.”
Although it initially shipped with Windows 7 as a default component of the operating system, PowerShell 2.0 was also backported to all supported releases of Windows.
In this regard, customers running Windows Vista, Windows XP or any supported Windows Server equivalent of client platform releases, can also leverage version 2.0 of PowerShell.