I am pleased with myself or more likely not unpleased by being in a situation where I bang my head on the wall or pull out my hair and scream. 'MAKE' can be a daunting thing when first approached and some of the methods are extremely complex and can do wonderful things and vast scary things. Linux allows a person to use their system any way they see fit by providing the knowledge of how it is used and if you are a programmer, the source so you can see for yourself what it 'thinks' it is doing.

I had some sample code that I got from a book that I bought and it had not been set up to compile on a Linux system. It had a complex make structure that wandered all around. I have studied 'MAKE' three times now when I encounter something that doesn't work correctly or will not compile. It has sunk in now and when I look at 'MAKE' files it is like reading a program. I don't really see all the chicken scratches anymore. Part of that is understanding shell. It took me just 5 minutes to identify why the process was not successful and create a 'MAKE' process that built all my executables without error and when I was done I did it with 10 lines of commands.

I am not boasting since I am sure a Linux guru could cast some runes that would bind me up in twisty little passages all alike, but I am moderately pleased that I am not spending the week pouring over manuals and books looking for a way out of the maze.

In some ways it is like knowing a person and how they will act. And if nobody changes the source I don't have to worry that they will do something different in the future.

Separate note, I see the DoD is worried about neuro enhanced soldiers. I would like to see some neuro enhanced politicians that could add and spell and speak and open their mouth without lying.