{"id":143,"date":"2007-06-25T17:35:33","date_gmt":"2007-06-26T01:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/testblog.sapien.com\/index.php\/2007\/06\/25\/why-i-hate-the-gui-and-cmdexe-part-v\/"},"modified":"2007-06-25T17:35:33","modified_gmt":"2007-06-26T01:35:33","slug":"why-i-hate-the-gui-and-cmdexe-part-v","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.sapien.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/25\/why-i-hate-the-gui-and-cmdexe-part-v\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Hate the GUI (and Cmd.exe) (Part V)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part I<\/a>, Part II<\/a>, Part III<\/a>, Part IV<\/a><\/p>\n

And why is PowerShell such a big deal? Well, I’ll tell you.<\/p>\n

It’s Obvious<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Is Get-ChildItem<\/strong> easier to type than Dir? <\/strong>No, of course not. But a cmdlet name like Get-WMIOBject <\/strong>is pretty obvious, right? I mean, you can look at the name and figure out what it does, right? That’s why I like PowerShell. No more commands like Netsh<\/strong> or Nbtstat<\/strong>. We get sensible command names.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s Pithy<\/strong><\/p>\n

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And you can create aliases. Gwmi<\/strong> is easier to type than Get-WMIObject<\/strong>. Makes less obvious sense to the newbie, perhaps, but that’s why products like PrimalScript<\/a> can convert aliases to cmdlet names for you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s Consistent<\/strong><\/p>\n

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What’s the command-line switch used to specify a remote computer name? Is it -M, \/c, or -t? With PowerShell it’s always -computerName. Always. And that makes it easier to learn and easier to decipher when you’re reading it – and easier to remember when you’re using it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It Reads Well<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Want to get a list of the top ten processes by handle count?<\/p>\n

Get-Process | Sort-Object Handles -descending | Select -first 10<\/pre>\n