Summary 33 Microsoft operating systems such as the various versions of Windows have their fair share of shell scripting tools as well. In Windows, we can carry out commands and write scripts using the generic shells command.com and CMD.exe, the Pow- erShell shell, and add-on tools such as Cygwin to give us access to bash on Windows, just to name a few. PowerShell provides one of the most complete facilities for Windows scripting and shell use and was the focus of the Windows scripting efforts in this chapter. Similar to the discussion on the bash scripting language, in PowerShell we can find comparable data structures and control statements, allowing us to control the flow of our scripts, store data, and take inputs and give outputs. PowerShell also allows us to perform much more complex activities that are in line with what can be done with compiled programming languages, due to its ability to interface with Microsoft's .NET tools. In this way, PowerShell can play a role in everything from the simplest of scripts to critical roles in production software. Endnotes