3 ms·

Also on windows, C:\Windows\System32\cscript.exe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Script_Host https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Script_Host) Which r

by dvhh 5y ago

Also on windows, C:\Windows\System32\cscript.exe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Script_Host https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Script_Host) Which run a less modern version of ECMA script, but does have access to COM objects

nanis 5y ago
True story: Some years ago, a consulting assignment involved analyzing a bunch of data saved on a slow as molasses NAS using SAS's data format. The work was CPU intensive but IO throughput was the bottleneck. The analysis was close to being embarrassingly parallelizable[1] given an appropriate partitioning of the data. The only thing installed on the remote system I was given access to via RDP was SAS whose macro facility tends to be cumbersome. Since the original CSV files were also stored on the same NAS, I asked if could have any programming language installed in my home directory (there was absolutely no way for me to upload anything, the system had no internet access other than to allow RDP, and I wasn't going to violate any rules. The sysadmin head read BOFH for career development in the 90s, so, the answer was a solid no. I had to only use what was available on the system. The problem was simple: Each run took about two days: Start the thing at 7 am one day so you can hope to have the results before 4 pm two days later kind of thing. That's when I remembered `cscript`. Using that, built a "thing" that orchestrated the copying of data in 100 GB chunks to `%TEMP%` which was still on the precious 256 GB SSD :-), launching multiple jobs etc. Task manager screenshots: https://www.nu42.com/2013/12/happiness-is-making-most-out-of-limited.html https://www.nu42.com/2013/12/happiness-is-making-most-out-of... In less than a week, jobs were running in four hours. sysadmin remained happily oblivious. Had to explain what I had done to the rest of the group. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel
- cmeacham98 5y ago
  I'm not sure if your post was meant to imply this was against the rules but you can upload files via RDP file sharing.
  - nanis 5y ago
    Both file sharing and copy & paste can be disabled. Yes, this is not as useful as people think it is. In real life, it ends up kneecapping productivity while enabling checkbox driven security. Regardless, it was also part of the contract that one was not allowed to upload/download or use copy&paste. I did point out they had forgotten to explicitly prohibit setting up a camera pointed at the screen, but the humor was not appreciated.
agumonkey 5y ago
a reminiscence of the pre powershell days I guess
EvanAnderson 5y ago
There's also the "jsc.exe" JScript.Net compiler included in .NET framework installs. You can access .Net assemblies and APIs. It's handy to have it out-of-the-box on modern Windows machines.
pjmlp 5y ago
C# and VB compilers are also available somewhere under system32 for the default .NET version shipped with the OS.

by dvhh 5y ago

nanis 5y ago

True story: Some years ago, a consulting assignment involved analyzing a bunch of data saved on a slow as molasses NAS using SAS's data format. The work was CPU intensive but IO throughput was the bottleneck. The analysis was close to being embarrassingly parallelizable[1] given an appropriate partitioning of the data. The only thing installed on the remote system I was given access to via RDP was SAS whose macro facility tends to be cumbersome. Since the original CSV files were also stored on the same NAS, I asked if could have any programming language installed in my home directory (there was absolutely no way for me to upload anything, the system had no internet access other than to allow RDP, and I wasn't going to violate any rules. The sysadmin head read BOFH for career development in the 90s, so, the answer was a solid no. I had to only use what was available on the system. The problem was simple: Each run took about two days: Start the thing at 7 am one day so you can hope to have the results before 4 pm two days later kind of thing. That's when I remembered `cscript`. Using that, built a "thing" that orchestrated the copying of data in 100 GB chunks to `%TEMP%` which was still on the precious 256 GB SSD :-), launching multiple jobs etc. Task manager screenshots: https://www.nu42.com/2013/12/happiness-is-making-most-out-of-limited.html https://www.nu42.com/2013/12/happiness-is-making-most-out-of... In less than a week, jobs were running in four hours. sysadmin remained happily oblivious. Had to explain what I had done to the rest of the group. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel

cmeacham98 5y ago
I'm not sure if your post was meant to imply this was against the rules but you can upload files via RDP file sharing.
- nanis 5y ago
  Both file sharing and copy & paste can be disabled. Yes, this is not as useful as people think it is. In real life, it ends up kneecapping productivity while enabling checkbox driven security. Regardless, it was also part of the contract that one was not allowed to upload/download or use copy&paste. I did point out they had forgotten to explicitly prohibit setting up a camera pointed at the screen, but the humor was not appreciated.

agumonkey 5y ago

a reminiscence of the pre powershell days I guess

EvanAnderson 5y ago

There's also the "jsc.exe" JScript.Net compiler included in .NET framework installs. You can access .Net assemblies and APIs. It's handy to have it out-of-the-box on modern Windows machines.

pjmlp 5y ago

C# and VB compilers are also available somewhere under system32 for the default .NET version shipped with the OS.