I agree to an extent about Makefiles, though I still think they are useful as long as you keep to a simple subset of their functionality. Shell scripting is a

I agree to an extent about Makefiles, though I still think they are useful as long as you keep to a simple subset of their functionality. Shell scripting is a different matter. One of the great things about shell scripting is that you can never forget it because you are using it constantly to interact with your system. The fact that it is something you use constantly and can just take and stick in a file and re-use is one reason why shell scripts are so popular.