Scripting

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Scripting

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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September 25, 2013 at 8:13 pm

#144642

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Scripting

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Gary Varga SSC Guru Points: 82166 More actions · Answer 1

I totally agree. With everything.

I am in full agreement that anyone working on the MS stack needs to know PowerShell. I myself have been using it on and off for 6 six years now but the problem is exactly that: on and off. Anecdotally, it appears that this is a common problem, however, once it is used more widely then those of us who script only occasionally are more likely to be using PowerShell almost exclusively. Also most deployments and installations of in-house software completely ignore PowerShell and it will take some time for this to change.

Gaz

-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

Dave Schutz SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4170 More actions · Answer 2

I've just started working with PowerShell and I save my scripts in Notepad so I can comment them. Otherwise I'll forget what I created the script for. Scripting is the new future of IT.

Dave62 SSCertifiable Points: 7459 More actions · Answer 3

I haven't invested any time in Powershell yet. So far I haven't run into a situation where Powershell could solve a problem that I couldn't solve with a VBScript.

Back in the late 1990's I was slow to move from batch scripts to VBScripts. I still use some batch scripts today but 99% of my scripts are VBScripts. I don't have 1 Powershell script yet.

The ability to connect to databases and work with recordsets is what moved me from batch to primarily VBScripts. I'm not sure what it will take to get me into Powershell...

Gary Varga SSC Guru Points: 82166 More actions · Answer 4

Dave62 (9/26/2013)
...I'm not sure what it will take to get me into Powershell...

Tooling?

Relevant examples?

Integration with MS systems?

Integration with 3rd party systems?

Standardisation?

...who am I kidding. Understandably it would take the following:

Failure to achieve using currently employed technology.

Gaz

-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

Rod at work SSC-Dedicated Points: 33897 More actions · Answer 5

Gary Varga (9/26/2013)
I totally agree. With everything.
I am in full agreement that anyone working on the MS stack needs to know PowerShell. I myself have been using it on and off for 6 six years now but the problem is exactly that: on and off. Anecdotally, it appears that this is a common problem, however, once it is used more widely then those of us who script only occasionally are more likely to be using PowerShell almost exclusively. Also most deployments and installations of in-house software completely ignore PowerShell and it will take some time for this to change.

I agree with you, Gary. I too want to learn more about PowerShell, but have had limited need to learn it. We're a small shop (very small, I'd imagine by many people's standards) and so scripting isn't as necessary here. Everything we need can simply be done in SSMS, because when it comes to making changes they're infrequent. That doesn't help me learn PowerShell.

Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

GoofyGuy SSCertifiable Points: 6109 More actions · Answer 6

Steve Jones wrote:

... I am starting to think that Powershell might be the best investment in my future skills.

Steve, do you think Powershell would also be a good skill for application developers to learn, please?

Thanks.

Gary Varga SSC Guru Points: 82166 More actions · Answer 7

Craig-315134 (9/26/2013)
Steve Jones wrote:
... I am starting to think that Powershell might be the best investment in my future skills.
Steve, do you think Powershell would also be a good skill for application developers to learn, please?
Thanks.

I'm not Steve (obviously) but I, as a fellow developer, think so (again, obviously).

Gaz

-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

GoofyGuy SSCertifiable Points: 6109 More actions · Answer 8

GoofyGuy

SSCertifiable

Points: 6109

September 26, 2013 at 9:28 am

#1653632

Thanks, Gaz!

Craig

cdesmarais 49673 SSCommitted Points: 1863 More actions · Answer 9

"That's if I remember to document them well so I can easily search for what I need. "

Source control. Everything.

John Hanrahan Hall of Fame Points: 3825 More actions · Answer 10

I think PowerShell is very cool but I've only ever had a use for it once. I use it to clean up my backup directories. There is just too much to learn and now that M$ has lost control of all the markets it's hard to know where to spend your time. Scripting seems like a lower priority to me.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 734418 More actions · Answer 11

Craig-315134 (9/26/2013)
Steve Jones wrote:
... I am starting to think that Powershell might be the best investment in my future skills.
Steve, do you think Powershell would also be a good skill for application developers to learn, please?
Thanks.

I do, only because as you look to make changes to your environment or deploy changes, scripting ensures consistency and can be packaged up with your project as something else to run in an MSBuild-type script.

Note that I think PoSh is trivial to learn for developers. It's essentially procedural programming with object handles. Piece of cake if you are used to VS development.

GoofyGuy SSCertifiable Points: 6109 More actions · Answer 12

Thanks, Steve.

I don't use MS application development tools or languages any more (Mr Hanrahan's previous post is an indication of the times, including those in our shop), so I'm not sure if PS would prove terribly useful that regard. But SQL Server will be around for the foreseeable future, so it still would have some utility for us.

Best,

Craig

andrew gothard SSChampion Points: 12301 More actions · Answer 13

Dave Schutz (9/26/2013)
I've just started working with PowerShell and I save my scripts in Notepad so I can comment them. Otherwise I'll forget what I created the script for. Scripting is the new future of IT.

What about some kind of database ... <runs>. TFS (or similar - other source control systems are available), then as well as searchable documentation you can add in any tests etc. you want to have with them

I'm a DBA.
I'm not paid to solve problems. I'm paid to prevent them.

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 14

Sure, we all need to be able to write scripts; that's been true quite independent of Sql Server or indeed of the existence of relational databases for a very long time. what changes is which scripting languages one needs to know.

Back in the SQL Server 2000 days, it was easy to get by with T-SQL scripts, CMDEXEC scripts, and Active-X scripts (which in my case meant JScript scripts; I never bothered to find out if SQL Agent would allow VBScript, because I dislike the language) and SQL Server Agent supported all three. I haven't come across anything much I couldn't handle with one of those (particularly as it's easy to make calls between JScript and CMDEXEC Script or from either to T-SQL) although I occassionally used other things without bothering to learn them properly because the uses were pretty well one-offs. As for Powershell, which is one of the scripting languages that I've I've used but never bothered to learn properly because I didn't expect to use it enough to make the investment of time to learn it worth while, I suppose it may become necessary sometime because MS have deprecated the Active-X capability of SQL Agent, but given that the Active-X capabiliy is going to continue to be available in at least the next two releases there are probably quite a few of us who may not have to worry about it.

My wory is that dropping the Active-X subsystem and using Powershell instead may not be a step forwards. Is it just churn for churn's sake? Or does it really provide new capability or make scripting easier?

Tom