There are many tools available to write PowerShell code or even to create PowerShell-based GUIs. Many administrators just stick to the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), but there are also a lot of other different tools available. Therefore, I want to give an overview with a small description of each tool and also make a recommendation. 

The following list is not an exhaustive list of tools but includes tools the authors have personal experience with. When choosing the proper tool for scripting, we can only recommend testing the tool in your day-to-day work properly before. Free and open source tools might, for example, be superior to paid tools or might be a better fit for your scripting style:

The PowerShell ISE was introduced with PowerShell v3. Unfortunately, it has not evolved too much from past versions, which is why it is losing its importance and is now finally going to be replaced by Visual Studio Code. Though replacing might be the wrong verb in this context—the PowerShell ISE will continue to stick to the Windows PowerShell version on Windows systems. VSCode, in comparison, is free and easily downloadable on every device. The problem is that the PowerShell ISE is still being used by the largest number of people—even today. This is why I am still explaining it very briefly, but then will move on to VSCode and prioritize VSCode in the whole book. You will recognize by yourself that VSCode is the more powerful and flexible tool; it is also continuously getting new features.  

PowerShell ISE can be executed through PowerShell_ISE...

As you have seen, the PowerShell ISE is quite a good tool, but still missing some features. Nevertheless, it comes with any Windows environment and is a helpful tool for creating valuable scripts and debugging them, if necessary. In comparison, we will now take an initial look at VSCode and how to set it up for the creation of PowerShell code. An explanation of and the usage of advanced techniques of VSCode will be covered throughout the rest of the book.

Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a lightweight open-source editor, which is free for private and commercial use. Technically, VSCode is built on the framework Electron. Electron is known as a toolset to deploy Node.js applications that are running...

As you have seen, the PowerShell ISE and VSCode are completely different tools with similar possibilities. The big benefits of VSCode over the PowerShell ISE are definitely the platform independence, the Git integration, and the customization possibilities. In fact, you can configure almost everything in VSCode and leverage the tool for your own or your company's needs. From the first chapter, you also know that Windows PowerShell will not continue to receive any major updates and so neither will the PowerShell ISE. From a long-term perspective, you should make the transition from the PowerShell ISE to VSCode or directly start with VSCode from scratch. VSCode is continuously evolving and gaining new features that also address DevOps and automation approaches. 

In this chapter, you received a very brief overview of the tools available for creating good PowerShell code. We took a dedicated look at the PowerShell ISE and VSCode and explained some of the basics of both of them. Most simple tasks can be achieved with both tools, but you have also learned about the advantages of VSCode. With this knowledge, you should be able to get your hands on the tools and set them up. As a long-term recommendation, VSCode should become your primary tool and therefore you should learn most of its capabilities to benefit from it. The additional resources, which are consolidated under Further reading, will help you to accomplish this task. In the next two chapters, we will cover the basics for coding with PowerShell. I would recommend that you continue to use VSCode for the examples and get used to working with it.

1. What are very well known tools for primarily creating good PowerShell GUIs?
2. Which tool is better - PowerShell ISE versus VSCode, and why?
3. How do you get the PowerShell ISE?
4. How do you get VSCode?
5. What are the first steps after installing VSCode?
6. What is IntelliSense?
7. What is Git and why does it make sense to install it with VSCode?
8. How can you execute code with the PowerShell ISE and VSCode?
9. How can you debug with the PowerShell ISE and VSCode?

Please see the following for further reading relating to this chapter:

• PowerShell: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/powershell-scripting
• Visual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/
• Git: https://git-scm.com/
• Key Bindings for Visual Studio Code: http://aka.ms/vscodekeybindings
• Microsoft/vscode-tips-and-tricks: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-tips-and-tricks