Linux is not Unix, that's just fine, I'm happy it is not. I've tried “re-evaluated” shell (Powershell), no, thanks, it's not intended for using by humans. Currently shell is still simple and powerful. Powershell is powerful and NOT simple.
Bash is the opposite, it's very easy to do complex things if you have some basic knowledge.
for instance a one liner nested loop to replace a string in a bunch of text files which are a few directories deep. Easy to write but it takes a while to read.
That's always debateable. Since nobody writes command names that are incomprehensible gibberish (to them), then I think if powershell command names describe (to you) what they do, then good. Almost certainly, a sizeable fraction of any populace will find those command names "unintuitive".
Huh? I use PowerShell (almost) daily. I do not write 'programs'. I use small steps, modify and repeat if the result was not as desired, just as with any REPL.
If you are referring to how one creates commands for the shell, PowerShell cmdlets can be written as PowerShell functions or as .NET classes. Not "programs". A very nice feature of PowerShell in that regard, is how the shell performs the parameter parsing. The cmdlet declares the parameters with name, type and optionally position, and the shell does any type coercion from e.g. string to the parameter type.
This means that PS cmdlets - unlike sh commands - contain no parameter parsing logic whatsoever - only the logic and declarative parameters. This also means that the information is readily available to the shell (or extensions) to be used for auto suggestions ("intellisense"), tab completion, early error checking etc.
taking PowerShell straight out of the box isn't that different from running bash with no config file. I use lots of aliases and custom cmdlets to make things smoother for my particular workflow. PS is still pretty new so a lot of that stuff is still being built.
It really requires “coder” mode of thinking.
They are changing that with PS Desired State Configuration...if you haven't seen it you should check it out. But you are right...it's coming from a different place than Unix shells.