14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full of promise, but unable to deliver, October 15, 2007
This review is from: Microsoft® Windows PowerShell(TM) Step By Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)
This book, a svelte 296 pages, plus CD-ROM, should be viewed in the same vein as the O'Reilly "... In A Nutshell" series: It's full of good information, but it doesn't quite take the one extra step to answer the question that's at the back of your mind: "But how do I use it to do XYZ?".
Case in point: it will tell you how to get information back from the system, but not necessarily how to pull out the one specific piece of data you're after, so that it can be processed in a script. (A couple of minutes of trial-and-error resolved that quandary.) Disclaimer: I skimmed through a few pages, concentrating on an area that's of immediate interest, so a note advising how to extra the single point of data might or might not have been buried in some text elsewhere.
This is the type of book where you look up the basics of the information you want, then go to another book to get the rest of the information (background, caveats, usage, etc) that will be required to implement the command successfully.
One major problem with this book, though, is that it is riddled with typos ("CDROMg", "Alapha computer") which may be off-putting to some users. (For the most part, scripts appeared not to have many typos, but the accompanying text is full of them.)
I gave it the benefit of the doubt, in awarding it 4 stars. 3.5 would have been more appropriate. I'm shopping for another PowerShell book now...
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a mile wide and an inch deep, November 9, 2007
This review is from: Microsoft® Windows PowerShell(TM) Step By Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)
The book is less than 300 pages. You can't learn Powershell in under 300 pages so expect to buy another book. The author covers a number of examples but doesn't go into real depth which is why I titled this review what I did. There are chapters on ADO, WMI, Exchange, and Active Directory. It's nice to know I can use Powershell to script against those technologies but am I really going to learn Powershell by spending so little time on each? I think this author and all other Powershell authors would be better off writing an entire book on each of those rather than a chapter. Until I get familiar with the syntax of Powershell I think the best approach is to find a book on Powershell for managing servers or Powershell for managing Exchange. I think concentrating on a single technology will greatly simplify the learning curve. Once I learn Powershell for Exchange (for example) I can then spread my wings to learn Powershell for Active Directory, ADO, etc...
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too basic, then too advanced, February 9, 2008
This review is from: Microsoft® Windows PowerShell(TM) Step By Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)
This book misses on many points. It is a good introduction, but that could have been covered in one chapter. It does not cover something as basic as creating functions (and the issue of variable scope). It also does not go into using the framework within powershell, one of the greatest powers of powershell, or extending powershell with your own addins. After a while some of the excises get repetative. There are chapters on Active Directory & Exchange, which requires special programs to go through, and most people will not even have access to them, or know the first thing about installing them so then can go through the book. Certainly a chapter on ADO would be great, but it is all depends on Active Directory; should have used northwind. There is some good information on Errors, but it is buried in Active Directory, which most people will never even look at since it is something that they would not have any reason to investigate. Definately go with another book such as "Windows Powershell Cookbook."
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