Yes I am! I can finally announce that and I am sooo excited! I have been working with the Apress guys, most importantly Jonathan Hassell, on starting an intermediate-level book on Windows PowerShell (formerly known as Monad). We have finished the book proposal checklist (a huge one, mind you) and it got approved. I am now off to finishing the paperwork related to contracts and other boring stuff and I have already started writing.
The book is tentatively titled Ubiquitous Automation with Windows PowerShell. I am an automation freak and I want to help everyone in the world reap the benefits of becoming one themselves! Software developers, system administrators and, I believe, all power users out there will enjoy a better scripting environment that fully supports the Windows environment and the .NET runtime. PowerShell makes managing processes and services, querying networks, taming file management, and automating program deployment a no-brainer. Doing that effectively is the most important thing I will be showing throughout the book. It will focus on learning useful scripting techniques as quickly as possible and getting real value early on. A unique "feature" of the book is that it will not only cover the shell itself, but it will introduce important tools and libraries that will boost your productivity. Not only we have a über-powerful shell, but we already have available helpers, IDEs, even debuggers at our disposal. The PowerShell community on the web is growing and it is covering a lot in using the shell to administer and automate all sorts of systems and software. Reinventing the wheel is not fun and one of the book’s goals is to help you use the existing, working round wheels instead of creating your own square ones.
Writing a book has many challenges. One of them is to provide useful content that is not “just another book on the subject.” There are several books on PowerShell on the shelves already and some more that will be out soon. Two of the books are written by members of the PowerShell development team! That raises the bar significantly and I am delighted in playing in the same league with those guys. I am sure my passion for tools and bullets of a very shiny material will bring a unique perspective that will complement the existing work in this field.
I have the deadlines set already. I should be done submitting the first three chapters by July 15. This is where I show that I am a serious and dedicated author that will be able to deliver on time. The tentative title and table of contents will get finalized some time after that. My final manuscript submission deadline is November 30, and the book will hit the shelves circa January 2008. I am planning on blogging my progress as I work on the book and provide regular updates. Stay tuned for a lot of PowerShell action and Windows automation black magic.