Collecting Windows PowerShell tips and tricks one line at a time

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I've been very lucky to have a job where I can answer questions with, "I can write a script to do that." And I'm doubly lucky to be able to listen to talks about Windows PowerShell.

Now, I'm not the most advanced of programmers. What I find most fascinating are the side comments made during talks about programming with Windows PowerShell. I'm forever thinking that if only someone would collect up all the 'by the way' comments made during talks and conversations with members of the Windows PowerShell product team, we'd have an amazing treasure trove of easy tips and tricks.

Then I thought, wait, I can be that person who collects up all these by-the-way comments about Windows PowerShell. And the idea for this blog was formed. 

Now, what you should expect from this blog? I can't promise this will be structured in any obvious way. I can't promise I'll teach advanced techniques. If that's what you want then there's already a blog to read. The Windows PowerShell team blog is a great place to go for that.

What I can say is that I will take a technique or some small tidbit about Windows PowerShell and beat it to death. I won't repeat myself once. No, I'll repeat myself more than once. I might not even stop after I repeat myself twice. Instead, I'll try the technique in many ways. I'll pick up the little gem of a tip or trick and turn it to look at as many facets as possible, so to speak. I'll keep writing about a subject until, even I, get tired of hearing about it.

And I can promise that all of the information I'm talking about can be tried out on publically available versions of Windows PowerShell, mainly the latest version of Windows PowerShell 2.0, delivered as an early Christmas gift this past December. You can download and install Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3 here.

Or, you can use the Beta for Windows Server 2008 R2. You can read about what's new in Windows PowerShell or the new cmdlets for Windows Server 2008 roles and features online.

Now go forth and download. I'll be back later to talk about how we can create a searchable spreadsheet in its own window using one line of code.