HowTo : PowerShell | Lesson Zero

Lesson 0 | HowTo : PowerShell

Intro to my PowerShell-teaching blog-series

What Is PowerShell?

To my understanding at the initial writing of this, PowerShell is a scripting language native from Microsoft Windows Operating System (OS)

If most or all of that directly-above sentence read like a foreign language to you --> I recommend reading up on #ComputerProgramming or better yet #CodeNewbie over on Twitter or similar social media platform

Or, for a less social-source, I highly recommend W3Schools.com, either diving first into HTML (IMO coding) or JavaScript (IMO programming), both of which fall under the "software" umbrella

Who Uses PowerShell?

First & foremost: I use PowerShell!

I have never been officially tasked with writing it professionally, but I have used it at nearly each job I have held since graduating college/roundOne

I also use PowerShell as a hobby {=

For some examples of my go-to PowerShell tricks & shortcuts, I encourage you to browse code over on my GitHub at My Directory Tools

Beyond my fingertips . . . I am honestly not sure who else for sure uses PowerShell

I think it gets some buzz among IT folks in administration roles in business, since it can automate a lot of mundane computer-based tasks

When Could You Use PowerShell?

Whenever you have a computer!

Preferably a Windows OS (WinOS) machine

But PowerShell Core is available to cross-platform use, for non-WinOS people

Sadly, tho, I have not yet dabbled in PowerShell Core so if you lack access to a WinOS machine and wish to try PowerShell Core --> you will need to find another teaching source

Where?

Anywhere that computer will effectively run . . . so like, probably definitely not in a hot tub!

Why Bother Learning PowerShell?

I am so glad you asked!

Allow me share my joys that have blossomed from learning PowerShell

Granted, you likely will not find the same use cases of PowerShell that I have, but these may serve as some ideas of PowerShell's power

I first laid eyes on PowerShell while working for North American Communications (NAC) as a "data processor"

For that job, I had to run many many computer programs, clicking incessantly on my work computer

One of my co-workers started to train me how to handle some of his regular monthly tasks, and during that breakdown, he doubled-clicked a strange icon on his desktop which triggered a spree of windows opening then closing

When all was said & done, the files that had been in a folder were now in their appropriate destination folders with fresh new names to meet our department file naming conventions

My co-worker explained that he had run a PowerShell script so that the computer would do the repetitive annoyance of renaming & moving those files

He explained how this method reduced the chance of error

Consider having to rename & move 50 computer files, each laborious one after the other

Each rename & move opened the door to small mistakes

Then compound having to repeat that process each month

No human is capable of batting a perfect 100% for very long like that

But!

By setting up that script once & debugging the script, the process becomes almost fool-proof

PowerShell had me hooked

I began diving into online blogs & tutorials, testing what other steps I could automate with PowerShell

After several months of tweaking & learning, I had some of my simple tasks, which used to take me about an hour or two, down to a mere click of a button & typing in the answer to a few prompts

Wow, did I feel like some type of fancy big-shot

Outside of work, I wrote a PowerShell script to analyze NFL player stats to assist my fantasy football draft selections

That was probably my favorite PowerShell project - combining my passion for statistical analysis & PowerShell

How Can YOU Learn PowerShell?

Is it not obvious??

You, my curious reader, can learn PowerShell by staying tuned for future posts in this impending blog-series {=