posted Nov 2020

Author: jsdnhk

_data/pages_latest.yaml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 - name: blog
-  mtime: 12-10-2020
+  mtime: 1-11-2020
 - name: debug
   mtime: 12-10-2020
 - name: fonts
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
 - name: resume
   mtime: 12-10-2020
 - name: toolset
-  mtime: 12-10-2020
+  mtime: 1-11-2020

_data/toolset/typist.yaml

@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@
       desc: An open-source web application that allows management of live codes as documents
 - group: Console
   tools:
+    - name: make
+      url: https://gnu.org/software/make
+      desc: Classic build and tasks automation tool
     - name: howdoi
       url: https://github.com/gleitz/howdoi
       desc: A code search tool via the command line

collections/_posts/2020-11-01-post.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+title: "File control by Make"
+tags: [development, project]
+category: "development"
+comment: true
+
+---
+
+## Background
+
+To enable executable from source code in a project, it usually requires a set of command lines to work it out.
+In software development, this step is called 'building', however it's never be an easy task for human by input lines.
+As a result, since 1976, a build automation tool, [Make][make-wiki], was birth from Bell Lab to automate building process for C.
+Make can not only build up executable by defining file dependency ruleset, but also collect project tasks by listing.
+Thanks to this gift, a numerous of software projects are still using Make to manage and run the project procedures.
+
+## Advantages
+
+1. Manage and keep different kinds of tasks other than build process
+1. Have clear syntax and light effort by directly using current shell commands
+1. Contain smart mechanism to determine the tasks to run and files to build
+1. Enable the user to build and install without knowing the details
+
+## Usage
+
+Make searches the current directory for the makefile to use, then runs the specified target(s) from that file.
+Inside makefile, there are set of rule, it contains commands to build a target file from source files with dependencies.
+After that, you can specify particular target(s) to run task(s) or update file(s). The following is the structure of a rule,
+
+
+``` makefile
+# Makefile: a file with set of Make rules
+# Common look of a rule
+# []: optional
+target1 [target2 ...]: [component1 ...]
+	[command 1]
+	[command 2]
+	...
+	[command n]
+```
+
+[make-wiki]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_(software)