[erlang-questions] Use of makefiles

[Steve Vinoski]

On 2/29/08, Joe Armstrong <erlang@REDACTED> wrote:
>  In general I try to use *generic* tools for all programing tasks, for
>  me this means that
>  make, emacs, bash, and xterm are constants for all projects. The only
>  bit that varies is the choice
>  of programming language.
>
>  When I learn a new language all I have to do is learn the language -
>  all the other tools say the same -
>  in the long term this is far better than learning specific tools for
>  each language - it allows me to concentrate
>  on the important details (learning the new language) and not get
>  bogged down in the details of the support
>  system. (This is also why I *hate* visual environments - each one is
>  *different*, text tools stay the same
>  across machine and time boundaries). I can (and do) run makefiles that
>  are 15 years old - the same cannot be said for visual build
>  environments.

Hi Joe, I agree with you 100%. Give me emacs (with its vast emacs-lisp
extensibility), bash (or ksh), and various UNIX command-line tools,
which I can combine as I wish using pipes, and keep the visual tools
out of my way (and out of my RAM).

Here's a very insightful explanation of the differences between those
of us who look to languages for productivity, and others who instead
look to tools and IDEs for productivity:

<http://osteele.com/archives/2004/11/ides>

--steve