Whether you need to back
up important files once a week, generate custom web pages once every three
seconds, or close errant processes only occasionally, there??™s almost certainly
a better and faster way to do it than the way you??™re doing it now.
Enter scripts, very simple programs you can write with nothing more than
Notepad and a few minutes looking up syntax. Scripts are plain-text files
that can be written and executed without a special development environment
and/or compiler. (A compiler is a program that translates editable program
source code into application executables, such as .exe and .dll files.)
Scripts are interpreted rather than compiled, which means that another program
reads and executes the commands in the script, line-by-line. While you
wouldn??™t want to use a word processor made from scripts, you??™ll find that
they??™re ideal for quick and dirty tasks, such as simple file operations, managing
network connections, and even starting several programs with a single
click of a button.
Scripting and Automation | 513
Scripting and
Automation
Microsoft hasn??™t gone out of its way to publicize these features, but they can
be immensely useful. Windows Vista supports three technologies that offer
scripting: Command Prompt (DOS) batch files, the Windows Script Host
(WSH), and Windows PowerShell scripts. All three types have their
strengths and limitations, and you may decide to use different ones for different
purposes:
Command Prompt (DOS) batch files
Batch files are the oldest scripts and probably the easiest to write on a
PC, but they??™re severely limited in what they can do.
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