Why are some properties and methods available in Powershell but not C#

Question

The following all work perfectly in PowerShell, but they can't even compile in C# in Visual Studio:

D:\> $dow = [DayOfWeek]'Monday'
D:\> $dow.ToInt32($null)
1
D:\> $dow.value__
1

Why is this so?

Thanks.

The answers are valid - still you can check msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.dayofweek.aspx which can probably help you — t3hn00b
– t3hn00b, Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 10:26

Roy Dictus · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-19 10:24:27Z

3

Because PowerShell and C# are completely different systems.

C# is a strongly-typed compiled language and PowerShell is a scripting language. Just like C# is different from VBA, it is different from PowerShell, which in turn is also different from VBA.

So each has unique features, some are the same in different environments must most features are not.

answered Nov 19, 2012 at 10:24

Roy Dictus

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7 Comments

Roy Dictus Over a year ago

That doesn't mean it supports the same features or shares any syntax rules.

Thomas Levesque Over a year ago

true, but in this case I'm pretty sure it's because enums do implement a ToInt32 method, which any .NET language can call; this is not specific to PowerShell. The fact that it's directly accessible in PS, though, is probably specific to PS (other languages don't allow to call methods of explicitly implemented interfaces directly)

Roy Dictus Over a year ago

"So each has unique features, some are the same in different environments must most features are not."

u936293 Over a year ago

I second Thomas Levesque. The same property of the same CLR object should be available in both. I don't think it is a syntax issue in this case.

Richard Over a year ago

@OldGeezer 2nd is ((IConvertable)dow).ToInt32(null) (enum implicitly implements IConvertable and not supplying a IFormatProvider defaults to the thread's default culture). 3rd is the implementation of enum types (take a look at the fields of an enum types in a decompiler); but most tools (including the C# compiler and VS) hide this.

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Thomas Levesque · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-19 10:47:36Z

2

My guess is this is because all enums implement IConvertible. In C# the ToInt32 method is not directly visible because the interface is implemented explicitly, but Powershell probably has different rules.

edited Nov 19, 2012 at 10:47

answered Nov 19, 2012 at 10:25

Thomas Levesque

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Comments

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-19 11:55:56Z

2

For the most part C# is a statically typed langauge while PowerShell is mostly dynamically typed. Basically that means that type checking is done at compile time in C# (excluding dynamic code blocks) and type checking is done at runtime in PowerShell.

C# also has type safety which prevents you treating a value of one type as a value of another type. Hence you will get a compile error.

edited Nov 19, 2012 at 11:55

answered Nov 19, 2012 at 11:37

user1462199

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