On Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:33:16 -0500, Thomas Jones-Low
<xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

>	I've not touched Microsoft development tools in more than a decade so I'll
>avoid making any statement regarding them.

I'm going to urge you _not_ to think of PowerShell as a development
tool; it's not positioned that way, and its strength is really more
aimed at system administration, especially in client/server
environments (such as ActiveDirectory-based networks - but not limited
to them). However, it is built on the .NET framework, and gives you
easy access to .NET capabilities in a scripting-style context, so you
can go beyond using it as a replacement for CMD.EXE-plus-NET.EXE-plus-
WMIC.EXE-plus-et-cetera - and the more et cetera that it supports, the
more it can be used to replace (or prototype!) some of the simpler
applications of C#. It's that last that I see as a possibility for
Traveller by the Byte; certainly, one could go right to C#, but then
you need _real_ development tools, whereas PowerShell can be used
more-or-less like GW-BASIC was years ago - write code/run code, no
compilation step needed.

And yes, I've more or less become something resembling a PowerShell
evangelist - because I use it on the job, and I _see_ the
possibilities.

But that's beside the point - the fundamental point of my original
posting was simply to try to get a feel for where the line is between
the full Windows-based PowerShell and the Open Source/.NET Core-based
PowerShell, so that I can be sure that what I choose to write will
work in both contexts.

>	XML vs JSON. I would select JSON. There are abundant, mature tools for parsing
>and managing either format. But unless you have some very specific data transfer
>requirement (e.g. metadata in your data), JSON is simpler (meaning smaller) and
>easier to manage. The extra bonus is it can be read by human beings easier.

Well, PowerShell handles both; I can build a data structure (think C
struct or Pascal RECORD) in memory, and easily convert between that
and either XML or JSON _and_back_ using built-in PowerShell cmdlets.
I'm just not sure of the uptake on JSON in the "real world", or how
solid the handling is if someone wanted to take my TbtB data and use
it elsewhere.