I'm an old unix hack. Although my largest hurdle now is learning all of the various Windows services and components, this book lays out the design philosophy of PowerShell that clarifies the background mechanics of the language. I still have to learn the Windows components and objects, but with this book, I can focus on that aspect and not the language itself.

Overall, an excellent purchase that I am very pleased with.

The book does an excellent job of detailing PS. I dutifully read through the entire Part 1 (9 of the 13 chapters) and then realized I still could not construct a basic script - the chapters did not build on each other. This was the intent of the author - he clearly states in the intro to Part 2, "Part 1 covered the Powershell language and runtime features in great detail however, those features were discussed mostly in isolation". That sentence right there is what I wished had been quoted in one of these other reviews - read it over again and decide for yourself if this is the book you want.

Unfortunately, Part 2 is not a gentle introduction and it dives into some excellent, but advanced applications of PS. I am more after some baby steps to learn PS (for perspective, I am an intermediate Python/Django/PostgreSQL user, so I'm not talking about computing/programming baby steps, just baby steps in PS).

I am glad I bought the book, but I see now I have to first learn/practice basic PS programming (looping, filtering, calling functions/methods, etc), then I can use this book for advanced detail when I get stuck. Towards that goal, I am having better luck with "Windows Powershell TFM" by Jones/Hicks.

I am reading many books about software development. This one is by far the best computer book that I've ever read. It starts of with the basic building blocks of powershell and ends with the Great finale of putting it all together. Wow, wow and wow. It's a feast.

By the way, I love Powershell.

This is the only Powershell book you will ever need - until 2.0 comes out anyhow. Even then, this book builds the groundwork for using Powershell to automate all types of tasks and will be usable far into the future. I've used it to write a couple of Powershell applications so far and it's been worth every penny I paid already. After years of scripting in Windows shell, Perl, and some brief work with VBScript, Powershell is the way to go and this is the guide you need for it.

I purchased this book with high hopes based on the other glowing reviews to get started with powershell. The book covers the basic language pretty well, maybe it's because I am a beginner with powershell, but when I attempt to actually get something done with powershell, the book just doesn't have the answers. Beginners and task oriented people should look elsewhere and avoid this book.

This guy maybe be a Guru at PowerShell but this book is not beginner friendly at all. If you have been scripting for years then this may well be the "definitive guide". However, if you are a Windows System Administrator who tends to script from time to time to solve basic problems then this is book is absolutely not for you. I got better examples and information from the guide that came with powershell and webcasts on powershell that are on the microsoft technet site, than I got from this book. Once again its probably great for a developer or an person with scripting experience but its of little value for a beginner Sorry Bruce :( I had high hopes for the book based on all the other stellar reviews.

This book is written by a self-admitted geek expressly for geeks. Being a geek myself I rate it highly for content. However, Administrators should bypass it. There are few administrators or programmers that need to know "Why" something was done. There is too much information in this world to absorb and reading this book contributes to that. Plus, practical things like profiles and snapins are not even mentioned (I didn't find them while reading it, but if they are there it emphasizes the following point).

I disagree that it can be used a a reference, except by an occaisonal geek. It would take too long to find anything related to your daily problem even though it is probably there. Few publishers know how to organize and display technical data so that after it is read it can be found again. There are silly things like showing the wrong way to do things. Who needs that in a reference book since you may copy it without checking if it works? A true reference book defines every (well at least the most useful) command/parameter nuances and tells you what you can't find in the normal documentation. Another book I own, Professional Windows PowerShell comes far closer to being a reference, and is a better book for a general programmer.

As a developer interested in PowerShell I found this book ideal in covering what I needed to know as well as what I didn't know that I needed to know! It minimizes the material (accessing WMI, COM, Active Directory, etc.) that you can get elsewhere online (blogs, etc.). Instead, this book has the stuff that is hard to get just from reading blogs but which you need to get an appreciation of PowerShell.

The writing style keeps you interested so you'll want to read it for fun too (just don't admit this to anyone else). The only con is that you frequently come across nuggets of knowledge embedded within a section, so don't skip too much, and keep a few notes on paper to tuck into the back of the book.

For new v2 features (CTP is out) you'll need to look online at the PS blogs.

As a both a Windows and Linux system administrator, this book overall made me frustrated initially, as I really don't want to delve into the introspective nature of compiler design miracles, but rather have a practical book on applying PowerShell. Nevertheless, once I sat down and reviewed key chapters, I was able to learn how to better utilize Powershell and apply it to some chores relating to the nature of system administration.

One of the things I high agree with another reviewer is that the book does indeed delve too much into the "gears and cogs" of Powershell, and many times too much. Sometimes we delve into how behind the scenes, the language takes measures to behave like any other language or shell, and we're scratching our heads, why did I have to understand what I always knew to work and behave. Good example is page 62 on string expansion, where once something is assigned is doesn't changed when accessed. Like that's how everything is suppose to work. Though, then he mentions how to override the behavior, but never drops any code examples for that side note.

Though this book seems more oriented to software developers, rather than system administrators, I would still recommend this book, as you can become really well versed in the Powershell and understand its advantages as it relates to the .NET platform on the recent Windows OSes.

Not only does this teach you powershell, it answers all kinds of questions about why Powershell is the way it is, and why certain decisions were made. Ever want to know why we use -eq instead of == ? The answer is in here. This books simply rocks. This book not only shows you how to use Powershell, it teaches you Powershell works, from the inside out. Completely worthwhile. I would highly suggest reading it multiple times, as you learn more and more each time through.

This book gives you the goods and helps you become very productive very fast. As a service ... I'm pointing out that PowerShell is installed in a somewhat crippled state which allows for interactive scripting only. You know, security, security, security.

Most of us, of course want to put the script into a file and execute it and this won't work until you set an 'execution policy'. This information can be found starting on page 205 and further directions on page 451.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Besides that a very good book that stands on it's own. If you've been around the programming track a couple of times you won't need the 'for the absolute beginner' book ... this one will do the trick!

I wish all technical books were written this well.

Consider this book the Definitive Reference for PowerShell. Written by one of the designers of the PowerShell environment, the author knows all the ins and outs, back-alleys, hidden rooms, and secret handshakes the language offers - and isn't afraid to grab you by the hand and drag you along (like it or not!) for the tour of your life.

Therein, however, is the reason I can't recommend this as your first PowerShell book. The book is very logically planned out, the information very well presented in relatively easy to understand language, there is an abundance of script snippets to demonstrate what is being talked about, and the writing style itself is entertaining to read. But the author knows too much on the subject, and like any proud parent, often "too much information" is given, delving too deep into the gears and cogs of PowerShell and the underlying .NET framework for the (often basic) building block component, which might overwhelm the new PowerShell user, especially if the user does not have programming, let alone scripting, experience.

So although I say don't make this your first purchase, make it your second - and probably your last. Start with an "Introduction" style book (like Microsoft Windows Powershell Programming for the Absolute Beginner) to get used to the complex environment (even if you've only had VBS/JS experience), get comfortable with the basics of the shell, then move up to this title. You'll soon find out that every aspect you thought you knew has much more to the story than you thought, and you'll walk away from this read able to do just about everything you want.

I don't ever remember reading a computer book from cover to cover, but I got hooked on this book and "can't put it down"... Plus, who ever thought that the history of a program could be as interesting as this one is. After all, the book begins by asking "why another shell language?" By the time you are into a few chapters you realize the question should have been "what took you so long?"

The book is peppered with valuable code examples that show off everything from the basics to the most advanced concepts, and the examples are built incrementally so you can see how and why every character in a command line works. Since PowerShell is object oriented, you easily learn why this is important, and how to extract the power of an OO shell.

I've already put PowerShell to work at the office using it for WMI, Active Directory, and file management tasks and have incorporated it into my AutoIT scripts as well. This book was a great help in getting me up to speed as fast as I have.

This is a great book for those wanting to learn not only how, but why.

This is _the_ PowerShell book.

A well written technical reference with an in-depth journey into PowerShell's design.
This book reads more like good fiction than tech, which may be caused, in part, by the disbelief of the things possible with PowerShell.
Payette's style is honest, insightful, passionate and funny.

favorite quote: "Dude! Where's my code?" (chapter 1.4)

This is _the_ PowerShell book.

A well written technical reference with an in-depth journey into PowerShell's design.
This book reads more like good fiction than tech, which may be caused, in part, by the disbelief of the things possible with PowerShell.
Payette's style is honest, insightful, passionate and funny.

favorite quote: "Dude! Where's my code?" (chapter 1.4)

The remarkable thing here is that they got the actual inventor of the powershell language and convinced him to write a book.

It's so packed full of good stuff that I wish Microsoft would ship the book, free, with every download of Powershell.

The title 'Powershell In Action' doesn't really give you a clue about just how good this book is. The title is just so that it fits in with Manning's (very good) range of 'In Action' books. But the focus here isn't on action -- it's on really **REALLY** getting to know the language used in Powershell.

Page after page, be astounded at the versatility of this language! Gasp in awe at the wise decisions that were made which allow the language to seemingly read your mind!

There is depth here that you cannot possibly find anywhere else. No one else would know the things Bruce Payette knows.

Where's the 6 stars option? I haven't enjoyed a software engineering book to the same extent for a long time. 'PowerShell in Action' works on two levels. Firstly it delivers immediately in getting you up to speed on PowerShell and being able to use it in-anger for simple tasks (and from there on it just gets better and better as it tackles more complex scenarios).

Secondly however it's not just a 'What' and 'How' tutorial, but also guide to 'Why'. Since Bruce was the design lead for the actual PowerShell language only he can tell you why they choose to implement features the way they did. On this level the book reads like one engineer talking to another. It gives you a fantastic insight into the thought processes behind the choices (what alternatives where considered, and discarded, and why).

The text is full of Bruce's entertaining and sly asides which make it clear that here's a guy that's quite possibly used every language on the planet. As a reader you get the clear impression that nothing in PowerShell is there out of whimsy. And when you start working through the book you'll get a real impression of how every feature of it hangs together and supports the whole. Get this book.

The last time I did any programming was using QuickBasic 4.5. (That was about 1996 for those of you who don't remember.) Every time I tried to use object oriented languages I wound up frustrated and quit trying. I bought Powershell In action on Friday, and here it is Monday, and I already have written a very nice script to monitor remote servers. Bruce Payette does a great job of explaining how to use Powershell in simple terms, with just enough humor to keep it light. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is new to scripting.

The last time I did any programming was using QuickBasic 4.5. (That was about 1996 for those of you who don't remember.) Every time I tried to use object oriented languages I wound up frustrated and quit trying. I bought Powershell In action on Friday, and here it is Monday, and I already have written a very nice script to monitor remote servers. Bruce Payette does a great job of explaining how to use Powershell in simple terms, with just enough humor to keep it light. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is new to scripting.

If you are looking for a good source of information to use the new Windows Powershell, this is the book for you! What is the old saying if you want the truth go to the source? Well Bruce is the source being one of the team leads has obviously given him some insight into the internal workings and he shares this with the reader.

Whether you are a scripting novice who needs help from start to finish, or you are an advanced scripter who just wants to dive right in, this book has something for everyone. It goes from start to finish covering everything from the basics of not only what Windows Powershell is but also scripting and even dabbles into object oriented programming. This book is truly the place to go for all your Windows Powershell needs, great job Bruce!

Thsi book is a great source of information. It has many down to earth and everyday explanations for some complex concepts. It's not just full of hard to follow technobabble. This is a real asset for anyone who needs to deal with PowerShell

You are asking me to review a book that you haven't shipped me yet. The book hasn't taught me anything new on the subject.