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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book to learn scripting, May 19, 2003
This review is from: Windows XP Under the Hood: Hardcore Windows Scripting and Command Line Power (Paperback)
This book is really useful if you want to script and are (1) a developer (2) an administrator (3) a curious soul. The title however can be misleading since "under the hood" means that you will discover the hidden "architecture" of XP. Nobody wants such an horrible thing, so the book is more intended to say ( I guess):" how to be effective with the scripting capabilities of Win XP and 2000". The author not only gives the basics of the Windows Scripting Host, but also some oldies like "batch commands" which can be pretty useful when you work in a multi OS environment. The style is clear and to the point: what I expect from a developer. Go also for the errata on the author Web Site to correct 4 or 5 bugs and you will script on your XP system from chapter 2 , understanding some new possibilities of VB SCRIPT. You will realize also WHY Win 95 really becomes obsolete and how to send mail with CDO technology. For Active Directory addicts, you also have a chapter on ADSI. I will say that this kind of book will have a great impact on UNIX colleagues, always keen to criticize the "mouse" productivity of Windows IT people. You can shell WinXP and this book shows you great productivity tools that come with the Microsoft OS. Good book indeed !
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Explore the nooks and crannies of Windows XP and more, April 27, 2003
This review is from: Windows XP Under the Hood: Hardcore Windows Scripting and Command Line Power (Paperback)
I read "Windows XP Under the Hood" (WXPUTH) because I wanted to know more about Windows scripting. I sought a modern book that covered Windows XP and its server counterpart (where possible), and went beyond the batch files of the 1990's. Ignoring some issues which can be addressed by an updated errata, WXPUTH will not disappoint. It's even useful to those running Windows 2000 and NT shops. Let WXPUTH be your guide to a world where graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are optional! Author Brian Knittel introduces the reader to the full range of Windows' command-line capabilities. Through examples, tables, explanations, and humor, WXPUTH doesn't teach everything, but instead concentrates on the most useful features of the Windows command line.
If you've never done any scripting before, WXPUTH begins with a helpful tutorial on VBScript. Next are discussions of object-based scripting, which allow for greater flexibility and power than simple batch files. The Windows Script Host (WSH), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and Active Directory Scripting Interface (ADSI) provide deeper access to core Windows functions. WXPUTH even teaches how to create custom objects, which I found fascinating. (This is truly getting "under the hood," but in an accessible manner.)
Where necessary, WXPUTH reveals details of Windows' innards. Topics like X.500 and LDAP appear in ch. 8, while hidden tools like "iexpress" and how to start various control panel applets are discussed elsewhere. The author isn't afraid to point out where Microsoft documentation or implementation is confusing or broken, which shows he isn't a Redmond drone.
While the dozens of sample scripts in WXPUTH are very helpful, and offer great opportunities for customization, they sometimes seem confusing. I think some of them need adjustment to work properly, although tinkering with scripts is a learning method. The author also made a few questionable comments, such as not being able to use 'runas' to start "Windows Explorer or any of its derivative programs" (p. 560). I am logged into Windows XP as a user right now, and have one instance of Explorer running as a user and another running as "administrator," started with 'runas'. Perhaps better technical editing might have caught similar issues?
Regardless, WXPUTH is "the" book I will recommend as a resource for Windows scripting. The first time you send an email via the command line you'll begin to appreciate the gift Brian Knittel has given the Windows admin community!
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK - But there are much better options, February 26, 2004
This review is from: Windows XP Under the Hood: Hardcore Windows Scripting and Command Line Power (Paperback)
1. I find the organization of the book fairly difficult to follow. It just doesn't flow for me (can't figure out why the topics are organized as they are). Clearly this is a personal preference thing - but the following books all felt more clearly organized to me: Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide
Managing Enterprise Systems with the Windows Script Host
Windows 2000 Scripting Bible
2. There's a lot of text, but not that much concrete/applicable information. I like books that teach by doing - lots of short/sweet examples to illustrate the points. This book seems to have repurposed a great deal of MSDN documentation to describe the detail of functions and objects, but isn't really laid out as a reference. It feels like an unhappy marriage of reference book and how-to.
3. There are a number of frighteningly basic/obvious errors in the book - which pretty much ruin the credibility of the author. Just a few examples:
3a. COM is defined as Common Object Model (it's Component Object Model)
3b. CIM is defined as Common Interface Model (it's Common Information Model)
3c. Knittel says all CIMv2 objects start with Win32_ (clearly not the case)
4. There's very little on WMI (Knittel himself says "...this chapter gives the barest introduction to WMI".
5. Knittel's command-line section doesn't address WMIC at all, which is inarguably the MOST powerful command-line tool introduced in Windows XP.
It's not terrible or totally wrong, I just don't think it's as approachable, as deep, or as credible as the books mentioned above.
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