To get the most out of this book we assume the following prerequisites:

• Basic understanding of structural and procedural programming
• Basic understanding of object-oriented programming
• A machine capable of running PowerShell Core
• For some examples that are inherently related to Windows, a machine capable of running Windows PowerShell, for example, Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10

To follow along with advanced exercises that require access to one or more servers, we also recommend you install and use the AutomatedLab framework. Instructions can be found at https://github.com/automatedlab/automatedlab and in the software and hardware list in this book. AutomatedLab allows you to easily deploy lab infrastructures with several automatically configured services, such as Active Directory Domain Services, Certificate Services, SQL, and much more.

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

1. Log in or register at www.packtpub.com.
2. Select the SUPPORT tab.
3. Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
4. Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:

• WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
• Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
• 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux

The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-PowerShell-Core-6.0. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/LearnPowerShellCore6_ColorImages.pdf.

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "In the next screenshot, we are coding in the test.ps1 file."

A block of code is set as follows:

function UsesPipeline
{
    param
    (
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline)]
        [string]
        $PipedObject
    )

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell.git

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Now, install the extension by pressing Install, which you can find on the top right-hand side."