This book culminates almost 20 years of writing about and teaching PowerShell. In that time, I have come to realize that there is more to PowerShell than stringing some commands together in a pipeline or writing a PowerShell script. For years, I focused on the mechanics, such as how to write a script, use a cmdlet, and use the pipeline. But I have come to realize that there is more to PowerShell than just the mechanics. There is a philosophy behind PowerShell that is just as important as the mechanics. This book is about that philosophy.

These are my ideas based on years of teaching, presenting, and writing about PowerShell. These are ideas that aren't necessarily documented in Microsoft documentation. I like to think of these concepts as PowerShell's "squishy" bits. The parts that are hard to quantify but are just as important as the mechanics.

Learning the mechanics is easy. You can ask ChatGPT or CoPilot to write a command. But generally, you are writing commands for someone to run. Maybe you. Maybe the help desk. What do you need to know to create a PowerShell command that is fluid, easy to use, and easy to understand? What is the context in which someone will run your command? AI-generated code may be a good starting point but should not be the end. How can you create something that is as frictionless as possible for the user?

Is This Book for You?

The book's target audience is the PowerShell scripting IT Pro. A typical reader will have basic PowerShell experience and scripting skills. Ideally, the reader will have created scripts, functions, or modules and wants to know how to make them better and more user-friendly.

What Will You Learn?

While there is a lot of code in the book, that isn't the focus. You will learn how to think about your code from a user's perspective. You will learn how to think about your code from a greater context than simple execution. The code samples are there to illustrate the concepts and provide examples of what you can do to improve the quality of your code. I'll also share suggestions for making PowerShell easier for you to use on a daily basis.

Free Sample Chapter

The free sample includes sample chapters to give you a taste of what to expect. You are encouraged and more than welcome to download them. But why bother? Leanpub has a no-questions-asked refund policy, so it's completely risk-free.

Available Formats

Leanpub offers eBooks in multiple formats, and you get all of them with your purchase. I love the "Send to Kindle" feature. Note that the PDF is probably the "highest fidelity" version, especially in terms of code listings. Buy once, own forever.