Jerry Lee Ford Jr.
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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Software Engineering -> Information Systems
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Operating Systems -> Windows - General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Operating Systems -> General AAS
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5
Average rating: 3.0 of 5
Windows *shell* scripting? ROTFL 3 out of 5 stars.
27 of 38 people found this review helpful.
I wanted to give this book more than 3 stars, if only to show that the topic wasn't causing me to be prejudiced against it.Really, I wanted to be able to sit down with book for half an hour and at least have an idea of what Windows shell scripting was about--but it wasn't easy to really wrap my mind around it even after flipping through the chapters, reading the first chapters, looking at the figures and tables, trying to get an idea of an organic framework for scripting.
Instead, I came away with two feelings:
1. Microsoft sure knows how to turn something relatively simple into something that's quite complicated. Shell scripting is pretty straightforward in *nix, and there aren't a ton of switches, buttons, and checkboxes involved with making them run. As far as I can tell, there is a fair amount of that to do with Windows scripts. So I really wouldn't want to have to use Windows shell scripting at all.
2. I wanted the author here to at least give me a sense of what can be done with scripts under Windows. He mentioned a CD with example code on it in the first pages, but there was no other indication of such a CD. So, that's bad editing. But, there also was no overall framework for example scripts throughout the book. I would have preferred to see more examples that build on each other more coherently. And I would have liked to see many of the lists of commands, functions, parameters, and what-have-you segregated from the rest of the text. They're distracting.
Overall, if you must have a book on WSH and Windows shell scripting, I suppose this one might be OK, but the Tim Hill book (which was published in 1998) seems to be, by far, the more popular book. It also seems to be the only other book on Windows scripting, but it also has an average rating of nearly 5 stars from over 30 reviewers, so you might want to check that one out.
Editorial Review:
This book is designed to help administrators of small-to-medium-sized business automate routine network and user tasks. Unlike the competition, this book offers coverage of Windows Shell Scripting, Windows Script Host, and Windows 2000 under one cover.
