Windows Power Shell Jump Start

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978526.aspx

http://www.sqlmag.com/content1/topic/accessing-sql-server-data-from-powershell-part-2/catpath/net-framework2/page/4

Windows PowerShell® is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language designed especially for system administration. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell helps IT professionals and power users control and automate the administration of the Windows operating system and applications that run on Windows.

Windows PowerShell is built on top of the .NET Framework common language runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework, and accepts and returns .NET Framework objects. This fundamental change in the environment brings entirely new tools and methods to the management and configuration of Windows.

Windows PowerShell is very different.

• Windows PowerShell does not process text. Instead, it processes objects based on the .NET Framework platform.
  
  
• Windows PowerShell comes with a large set of built-in commands with a consistent interface.
  
  
• All shell commands use the same command parser, instead of different parsers for each tool. This makes it much easier to learn how to use each command.
  
  

Best of all, you do not have to give up the tools that you have become accustomed to using. You can still use the traditional Windows tools, such as Net, SC, and Reg.exe in Windows PowerShell.

A cmdlet (pronounced "command-let") is a single-feature command that manipulates objects in Windows PowerShell. You can recognize cmdlets by their name format -- a verb and noun separated by a dash (-), such as Get-Help, Get-Process, and Start-Service.

Each cmdlet has a help file that you can access by typing:

get-help <cmdlet-name> -detailed

Windows PowerShell provides a new architecture that is based on objects, rather than text. The cmdlet that receives an object can act directly on its properties and methods without any conversion or manipulation. Users can refer to properties and methods of the object by name, rather than calculating the position of the data in the output.

Windows PowerShell provides a complete interactive environment. When you type a command or expression at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, the command or expression is processed immediately and the output is returned to the prompt.

This is true for all command types, including cmdlets, aliases, functions, CIM commands, workflows, and executable files.

You can also send the output of a command to a file or printer, or you can use the pipeline operator (|) to send the output to another command.

What is a script?

A script is text file that contains one or more Windows PowerShell commands or expressions. When you run the script, the commands and expressions in the script file run, just as if you typed them at the command line.
Typically, you write a script to save command sequence that you use frequently or to share a command sequence with others.

http://www.sqlmag.com/article/windows-powershell/powershell-scripting

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730939.aspx