Tags: Microsoft

Microsoft launches Monad Command Shell Beta 1

Microsoft has been working on the Monad Shell for quite sometime. The company initially aimed to release it with the longhorn edition of Windows Operating System. However, repeated delays meant that the company later decided to release it in a separate version. It is similar in concept to the Unix shells but is based on the object-oriented programming and the .NET framework.

The company just released the first public beta of Monad Command Shell and it is available from the Microsoft BetaPlace. It was initially planned for release at the end of this month. However, the development team prepared it ahead of scheduled and anyone interested is free to try it.

Some of the key features expected in the final release as per the Wikipedia are:
1. Commandlets all inherit certain options, allowing the user to choose things such as the level of interaction and how to deal with errors - including a “suspend” feature, which allows the user to enter a new command shell, investigate a problem, and then continue with the original command. A simple mechanism is built-in for the programmer to define the prompts to be shown in such circumstances.
2. Options are generally whole words, but can be specified to the minimum number of letters necessary (e.g. the option -show-detailed-information could be entered as -s if no other option began with ’s’)
3. Tab completion
4. The ability to assign the output of a command to a variable, which will then be an object or array of objects inspectable in any way desired. For example, you can output a command result directly to Excel.

Check out Microsoft BetaPlace to download the beta of the Monad Beta 1.