Chapter 1. Scripting Concepts and Terminology

IN THIS CHAPTER

Completely new to scripting? This is the chapter for you! You'll learn how scripts work, what they are, and how Windows uses them. You'll also learn about key security issues, which will be covered in more detail in later chapters.

In the past few years, scripting has become increasingly popular with Windows administrators. Visual Basic, Scripting Edition-commonly known as VBScript-has become especially popular, due to its ease of use and incredible flexibility. Unfortunately, most books on scripting seemed to be focused toward developers, or at least toward Windows administrators with a strong software development background. The result is that most administrators think that scripting is too complex for them, which simply isn't true. In this book, I'll introduce you to scripting from a purely administrative standpoint, starting with this chapter, where I'll explain exactly what I mean by "scripting," and how it all fits into Windows administration.