PowerShell and Me

My name is Jeff Hillman, and I am a software developer. I realized that Computer Science was for me when I was required to take a introductory C++ class as an Electrical Engineering major in college. I changed my major, and I have never looked back. My professional programming language experience has included Java, C++, COM, VB6 (bleh), Javascript, and C#. I have experience scripting with bash, Perl, and DOS batch files. I really enjoy Perl, and I regret that I don't have many opportunities to use it for work. I work in a very Microsoft-oriented shop, where we write software for Windows, so that is kind of where I lean right now. I'm not one of those guys who will tell you that .NET (or Windows) is the only way to go and that Java (or *nix) is a big waste of bytes (or the other way around). I think we have the responsibility of using the best tool for the job. Sometimes the best tool is the one with which you have the most experience; sometimes it isn't. I am currently on a two-year assignment in Bangkok, Thailand, training some Thai software developers on a large project developed in our offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is where I worked before. All the development here is C++ and COM, but the guys back home in Utah are all neck-deep in .NET and C# goodness. I am very much enjoying my work experience here in Thailand, but I do look forward to getting back into the .NET framework full-time, when I return next year. I was first introduced to Windows PowerShell in late 2005, back when it was codenamed Monad. I am not a system administrator, so I might not fit the main "target audience" of PowerShell, but, as a developer, I thought it had a lot of potential to help me in my day-to-day work. Besides that, I really like finding ways to automate anything that is likely to be repeated. Sometimes I automate something just for fun, or for the experience, rather than for a long-term benefit. I use PowerShell at work every day; I rarely open a Windows Explorer window anymore. I force myself to use it for pretty much everything, and, in doing so, I discover new and exciting things about it on a fairly regular basis. I plan to use this blog to share what I have learned about PowerShell. If I have anything I think others might find useful, I will post it here. First up: PowerShell Help.