Should a Windows developer know the command line?

Question

The command line has eluded me for years. I started in 1999 so I was already spoiled by the GUI; using my good ol' mouse to point and click away. Ten years later and I have some basic command line statements under my belt: cd, dir, rm, ipconfig, etc. Outside of that not much else. Heck, even my keyboard shortcuts are fairly limited to: copy, paste, cut, refresh browser; but I guess that's a different topic altogether.

Now I also see something called "Windows PowerShell". It appears to be more powerful than the cmd.exe and is geared towards system admins -- cool. I, however, am a Web Developer: everything related to ASP.NET basically. I live in Visual Studio when it comes time to bang out code.

Would a developer like me gain anything from incorporating the Windows shell into my daily workflow? As I get older I'm more interested in function over form, i.e. - I recently purchased a ThinkPad and exclusively use the TrackPoint :) I'm all about using a straight line to get from point A to point B.

What do you say about my situation and to Windows developers in general?

Answer 1

Command-line scripting can be very useful, even in the Windows environment. Scripts can be useful for automated deployments, and monitoring purposes. Unfortunately, the default "cmd.exe" interface and commands are a bit clunky, so it's not as fun to work with as Unix-based shells.

PowerShell is a huge improvement over cmd, so I'd recommend learning the basics of PowerShell, and see if it would be useful for you.