[useerup]

> ... commands accept and parse arbitrary strings as input instead of formally specifying it like a function signature + docblock. If I could rewrite the universe, commands would use a central API for specifying the names, data types, descriptions, etc. for all the input they take

Which is exactly what powershell does: Commands in powershell (called "cmdlets") are like functions with type hints. A command does not parse the input strings itself, rather it exposes this type information to the shell. The shell is the one responsible for discovering the parameters (and types) and parsing the command line parameters and coercing types before passing them (strongly typed) to the actual command.

This means that the information about parameter names and types is readily available for doc-generation, auto tab-completion and language servers which allow syntax highlighting, completion etc to work even inside editors such as vscode or emacs.

The point is that to specify a cmdket you must declare parameters, in much the same way that for a function in a programming language to accept parameters it must declare those as formal parameters.

[pjmlp]

And with PowerShell Crescendo, same experience can be provided for native commands, although I think it is a bit too much expecting everyone to create crescendo configuration files.

[vicda]

Despite powershell's many warts it's my goto language for writing command line scripts.