[erlang-questions] Use of makefiles

[Toby Thain]

On 29-Feb-08, at 2:41 PM, Brian Cully wrote:

> On 29-Feb-2008, at 14:56, Toby Thain wrote:
>>> Makefiles are declarative, so in theory they should be really  
>>> neat and
>>> the Erlang world should love them. There are two flies in the
>>> ointment. One is that the syntax is batshit crazy.
>>
>> i.e. Nobody reads the manual.
>
> 	Having a manual doesn't make make's syntax any less batshit crazy.

It never struck me as crazy. I guess it's subjective.



>
>>
>>> The other is that
>>> people tend to force large doses of imperativeness into Makefiles,
>>> which defeats half the point. One widespread example is recursive
>>> makefiles.
>>
>> i.e. Nobody learns how to use it properly.
>
> 	Or: make isn't suitable for large classes of useful work and  
> thinking,

I see no evidence of that. It's used for plenty of real work - and  
not just by me.

--Toby

> but given its predominance it is forced into these roles by hook  
> and crook.
>
> -bjc