PowerHell – WTF with this language ?

As a DBA, we’re often forced to use PowerShell scripts to automate database management.

A script language on Windows is a great idea. Use the .Net framework is a great idea. But why Powershell makes me want to do this each time I try to debug it ?

Before starting to explain why I think PowerShell is a stupid language, I’d like to thank Remi Larger, my teammate, who provided almost exemples.

Guess my type

Let’s start with a function which return an Array :

function GetABeautifulArray()
{
    $mybeautifularray = @("FirstElement", "SecondElement")
    return $mybeautifularray
}
$array = GetABeautifulArray
$array.GetType()

Yes, I get an Array

I’m updating the function to add in the array only 1 element :

function GetABeautifulArray()
{
    $mybeautifularray = @("FirstElement")
    return $mybeautifularray
}
$array = GetABeautifulArray
$array.GetType()

Now guess my type :

If your collection contains only one element, the function will return the element itself instead of the collection…

And you know what ? If you want to get a collection, you can use this obvious syntax by adding a comma :

return , $mybeautifularray

Don’t type your variables

When you learned development, you’ve got used to declare your variables in your code ? Muhahahaha, you’re dead 🙂

$test1 = $null
$test1 -eq $null

Hopefully, this code returns true. What about this one ?

[string]$test2 = $null
$test2 -eq $null

Yes you’re right, I’d better test my strings like that :

[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($test1)
[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($test2)

But what about other object ?

[int]$test3 = $null
$test3 -eq $null

I have lot of exemples to explain why I don’t like Powershell and I’m always surprised about behavior differences between C# and PowerShell even if they both use .net Framework…

Almost Powershell scripts I encountered in different companies aren’t unit tested, the code isn’t build, do you really want to manage your production with this kind of tool ?