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How bad is the Windows command line really?

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Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#41

Post by kmiroslav »

Personally, one of the reasons why I fell in love with Ruby 10+ years ago was because I realized I could use it instead of CMD or bash to write all my scripts from now on. Regardless of the platform. Obviously, this applies to Python as well if that's more your thing.

I've never gotten into PowerShell but I have absolute respect for the concept behind it, and how much more advanced it is than any shell you can find on UNIX. Think about it: instead of piping several commands through an unspecified string protocol that varies between each command (essentially what UNIX does), you are now piping real language objects in a uniform binary protocol defined by the shell itself.

Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#44

Post by stephengillie »

nailer wrote: post #34
itaysk wrote: post #15

Agree about Windows command prompt being lame compared to bash, but I really find PowerShell amazing, even more so then bash. If you look at all the recent (even not so recent) products from MS, it is clear that PowerShell is the shell for Windows, and not batch. I didn't get the cure for polio analogy that's in the article but I really think anyone that's comparing shells should compare with PowerShell.

You're on Hacker News. Most people who say they hate powershell have done so little posh they don't even know 'select' or 'where'.

Select-Object or Select-String?

Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#47

Post by brudgers »

sklogic wrote: post #29
sklogic wrote: post #2

Unreadable on mobile

Great, dowvoted for reporting a problem. Typical HN.

Perhaps someone felt that the page layout was far enough off topic as to be a distraction or otherwise reduce the quality of the discussion.

Personally, I've found treating unexpected downvotes as editorial feedback on the quality of my writing helpful. I just assume that:

  1. I didn't make my point clearly
  2. My comment was low quality
  3. Someone just disagrees with the point
In the first case, I edit or delete it. In the second case I just delete it...except in those cases when I deliberately make a low quality comment knowing it is likely to attract downvotes. The third case reduces to the other two in practice, though not so much in logical theory.

Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#48

Post by brudgers »

bluejekyll wrote: post #25
j2kun wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But bash was around in the 80's, too, right? And it didn't seem to need those features. How did bash users get around your claimed need for this?

fork/exec is built in to bash, i.e. Unix. Batch was restricted by DOS, I wish I had never learned it, but it did come in handy for launching games.

In the Savings and Loan recession I had one of those jobs with unpaid overtime and an employer who was comfortable abusing it. I'd start a batch print job and go home. When I came back next morning picking up the paper off the floor was pure pleasure relative to baby-sitting the machines until midnight or more.

Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#49

Post by nailer »

stephengillie wrote: post #44
nailer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're on Hacker News. Most people who say they hate powershell have done so little posh they don't even know 'select' or 'where'.

Select-Object or Select-String?

'select-object' - 'select' is it's default alias.

Re: How bad is the Windows command line really?

#50

Post by tr1ck5t3r »

Its good enough to bypass UAC & AV and run whatever you like.

You dont even need to give your software a ".exe" extension to run code.

Just rename a program removing its .exe extension, then call it from the command line. It will run!

Its perhaps better to compare dos BATch files with bash.

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