UnifyWeaver

Book 12: PowerShell Target

Windows Automation and .NET Scripting

Part of the UnifyWeaver Education Series

This book covers compiling Prolog predicates to PowerShell scripts. PowerShell’s deep Windows integration and .NET access make this target ideal for Windows automation, system administration, and enterprise environments.

Prerequisites

Required:

• Book 1: Foundations

Recommended:

• Book 3: C# Target - shares .NET concepts
• Book 9: Rust Target - first book in the Specialized Targets section

Technical:

• PowerShell 7+ (cross-platform) or Windows PowerShell 5.1
• Basic PowerShell knowledge (helpful)

Implementation Status

This table shows the current implementation status of features described in each chapter.

Chapter	Feature	Status	Notes
Ch 1	Basic compilation	Implemented	compile_to_powershell/3 works
Ch 1	Module loading	Implemented	use_module(unifyweaver(core/powershell_compiler))
Ch 2	Facts to arrays	Implemented	Facts compile to PSCustomObject arrays
Ch 2	Rules to joins	Partial	Rules generate join code, but don’t auto-include dependent facts
Ch 3	CmdletBinding	Not yet	Advanced function attributes not generated
Ch 3	Parameter validation	Not yet	[ValidateSet()], [Mandatory] not generated
Ch 3	Begin/Process/End	Partial	Only in .NET mode via dotnet_source
Ch 4	dotnet_source	Implemented	Inline C# compilation works
Ch 4	DLL caching	Implemented	pre_compile(true) generates caching
Ch 4	NuGet references	Implemented	references(['LiteDB']) works
Ch 5	Windows automation	Design only	Examples show patterns, not auto-generated

Legend: Implemented = tested and working, Partial = works with limitations, Not yet = documented but not implemented, Design only = conceptual/aspirational

Learning Path

1. Introduction - Implemented

• Why use the PowerShell target?
• PowerShell vs Bash for automation
• Compilation modes (BaaS, Pure, Inline .NET)
• Your first PowerShell compilation

2. Facts and Rules - Mostly Implemented

• Compiling facts to PowerShell arrays
• PSCustomObject for binary facts
• Translating rules to functions with joins
• Pipeline integration

3. Cmdlet Generation - Design Document

• Creating advanced functions with CmdletBinding
• Parameter attributes and validation
• Begin/Process/End blocks
• Verbose and Debug output

4. .NET Integration - Fully Implemented

• Inline C# with Add-Type
• The dotnet_source plugin
• DLL caching for 138x speedup
• NuGet package integration

5. Windows Automation - Design Document

• File system operations
• Windows services management
• Registry access
• Event logs and WMI/CIM queries

Part 3: Advanced Topics (Planned)

Chapter 6: In-Process Hosting (coming soon)

• Sharing runtime with C# target
• Cross-target glue via .NET
• Performance considerations

Chapter 7: Active Directory (coming soon)

• LDAP queries from Prolog
• User and group management
• Permission handling

Chapter 8: Enterprise Patterns (coming soon)

• Remote execution (PSRemoting)
• Scheduled tasks
• Credential management

Quick Example

% Define a Windows service checker
service_running(Name) :-
    get_service(Name, Status),
    Status == 'Running'.

% Compile to PowerShell
?- compile_to_powershell(service_running/1, [], Code).

% Generated PowerShell:
% function Test-ServiceRunning {
%     param([string]$Name)
%     $service = Get-Service -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
%     return $service.Status -eq 'Running'
% }

What’s Next?

After completing Book 12, continue to:

• Book 7: Cross-Target Glue - .NET bridge integration
• Book 8: Security & Firewall - Enterprise security
• Book 13: Semantic Search - AI capabilities

License

This educational content is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Code examples are dual-licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0.

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