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Learn Makefiles
Makefile Tutorial by Example
Interpreted languages like Python, Ruby, and raw Javascript don't require an analogue to Makefiles. I've seen it used so infrequently that I won't go into details, but it's mainly used for defining canned recipes and also pairs well with the eval function. The make tool will stop running a rule (and will propogate back to prerequisites) if a command returns a nonzero exit status.
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