PowerShell Team Blog

I've done a few in C#, but may use JScript.net for the next one because I need to do lots of string parsing, object creation, and regular expression handling.

I've started with PowerShell script, but frankly it is not as good in comparision.  Very awkward to create objects and somewhat cumbersome to use regular expressions (compared to jscript).

c#

i just can't take vb seriously.

Actually, never mind my last comment about JScript.net.  I just discovered two very interesting things that make working with regular expressions MUCH easier from script (and I'll stick to C# for creating cmdlets):

1) captures from the last -match call are available via $matches.  Therefore, I do not need to instantiate a System.Text[...].Regex object to create a regular expression.  I can use: 'if( $s -match "tag: (.*)" ) { $v = $match[1] }' instead!

2) the 'switch -regex' statement works like -match, in that the captures are available in the switch block!

switch -regex ($s)

{

 "Frob: (.*)" { $frob = $matches[1] }

 "Froz: (.*)" { $froz = $matches[1] }

}

However, I would still dearly like to see a more simple object model - something akin to jscript's dynamic objects makes a great deal of sense.

I only have used C#.  I won't using any other languages in the foreseeable future.  -Thanks

I prefer C#.  Why not use the language that most closely resembles PowerShell?  After all, one of the goals of PowerShell is to create a solid "transition point" to compiled languages, is it not?  Also, most of the more recent MSDN articles (from what I've seen) that only show a single language's examples are generally written in C#.

I've been programming in some flavor of basic for close to 20 years.  I'd sure like to see more sample in VB, even though I've gotten pretty good at translating C# on the fly.

I use C# exclusively. It feels natural and sits nicely with the rest of the managed code of my app.

C++ examples will be nice to learn from.

We use C#. We haven't tried any other language yet.

If I remember correctly, when they created the original .NET documentation base, it was decided that they would focus primarily on providing examples in VB and secondarily in C#, because it was assumed that C# programmers were able to do the mental translation between languages (while the same was not assumed of VB programmers). This decision has been of some frustration to me on certain occasions because doing that mental translation precludes the at-a-glance interpretation of example code.

That is, if you've been at it long enough, you can probably get a decent understanding of a piece of code without actually having to read it--just skimming will do. This ability is frustrated, however, when the code is in the "wrong" language. Even though you can read and understand it, it takes more effort than you'd care to expend.

With that in mind, it's worth pointing out that while VB programmers make up a significant portion of the developers working with .NET, the overlap between programmers who prefer VB and programmers would be interested in writing PowerShell commandlets is probably minimal. People who use VB with .NET are often the ones who would still be on VB6 if they could be. Remember how they tried to petition Microsoft reconsider? They're not going to give up cmd.exe either without a fight. People who develop for PowerShell, at least initially, are going to be those who are excited to try out new technology. Those users will have long since learned C#.

I use VB. I know, I'm a throwback. But I wouldn't be on VB6 if I could. I *can*, if I want to, but I don't mind VB.NET. I'm excited about the new technology... I just like the VB syntax better, is all.

Some companies have internally settled on VB as a standard, for various reasons. If there were developing cmdlets, they'd want to see examples in VB. It has nothing to do with anyone's capability, it's just a company's desire to keep their internal code in a single language. Likely the decision dates back to the VB6 days when all they had were VB programmers, but there it is. C# isn't inherently "better" a language for most purposes; it's just different. After all, it's all MSIL in the end, no?

I'd be a strong supporter of providing examples in both C# and VB. Anything MS can do to make these technologies more accessible to a broader range of programmers is essential.

Please make the examples in C# so as to be consistent with every other Microsoft example, application block, etc. Anyone can translate on the fly while simultaneously learning PowerShell so naturally the VB programmers should translate.

I haven't gotten a chance to write my own cmdlets yet, but I've been very excited over the idea of writing a cmdlet library for Python and utilizing both Python.Net and IronPython for them.

>> Please make the examples in C# so as to be consistent with every other Microsoft example, application block, etc. Anyone can translate on the fly while simultaneously learning PowerShell so naturally the VB programmers should translate.

I just read this. UGH! It's the C# programmers that have the skill to translate, VB is more for people who want to get things done and are not choosing a language based on what will most boost their egos.

If it is a choice between C# and VB, do VB as the C# people have the skill to translate more often than vice-versa.

I only use C# for cmdlets. But I suggest VB.net as second language as nearly every C++ User can at least read C#. In my experience this is defintively not true for the typical VB programmer.

Never wrote a cmdlet yet - but I will have to do in the future.

Doing that in Ironpython would be nice.