Ask Slashdot: Moving From *nix To Windows Automation?

Zubinix writes "I have a background in doing automation in a Unix/Linux environment using scripting languages such as perl and bash shell, as well as ssh for remote scripting. My next project will be in the Windows environment so what approach and methodology is best for developing, say, the automation required for a test system? I don't want to use things like Cygwin, as I need to integrate with Windows applications such as Exchange and Sharepoint. Is there a list of should and should not dos when it comes to Windows automation?"

Comments

Re:Don't do it...

[benjymouse]

The point was the grandstanding, the comment "I do have to say Powershell is pretty sweet" implied something interesting or insightful was going on.

There is. PowerShell is a refreshing new take on shell scripting. Granted, it is best fit for Windows because Windows is already pretty much object oriented from a system point of view. But at the same time traditional shells would struggle with incorporating OO concepts. PowerShell does away with the need for sed and awk, has a built-in extremely powerful regex engine and has modern constructs like structured exceptions, script blocks, closures, integrated help (no not just man pages) and a lot of other interesting stuff like the common -whatif and -confirm parameters, remote sessions and remote jobs, fan-out remoting etc.

You may not like the fact that Windows now sports a shell which surpasses bash, ksh and zsh in many ways, but that doesn't mean that it is not interesting. It is for a good many of us.

Half of the people in this thread make it sound like this is such a big deal, and it's still a pile of steaming crap.

Yeah, whatever. You are entitled to your opinion. But please educate yourself on the subject.

It's like I've stumbled into some bizarro-world edition of Slashdot where getting a limited command shell to function under Windows is some sort of nirvana. You still have a (very very very) limited shell with little of the functionality of shells created 20+ years ago.

Translation: "Help, someone in here has something good to say about Windows and nobody helps me with bashing them. Anything coming from Windows cannot possibly bring anything new. I refuse to look at it. If it is any good, it must have existed for 20+ years in Unix".

Grow up, please. PowerShell is a full-featured command shell and surpasses bash, ksh and zsh in several areas. You may still prefer *sh shells, but on Windows there is an interesting new take on the concept.

Or, to put it simply, "there is nothing to see here". What you think of as the Rapture is a meh moment at best.

Translation: "I don't want to hear about anything which could challenge what I already know as the truth."