#make

Multiple ways to run common coding tasks in a convenient and consistent way across multiple repositories. This is not exactly rocket science. It’s a small quality of life improvement for you and your team. It’s super simple to set up and yet it’s something I rarely see in the wild. This could be one small thing you can implement while you’re having your first coffee tomorrow morning to do your good deed for the day.

Make is an old tool, an assembly language of sorts for build systems. Many have tried to replace it. Many have tried to reinvent it. Most people prefer to avoid it if at all possible. So why use it to manage dotfiles of all things?

The reason I like makefiles is that they often follow an unwritten convention of implementing the same set of commands to get you up and running. When I find a project I know nothing about, and I see a Makefile file inside, chances are that I can run make or make build followed by make install, and I will get this project built and set up on my computer. Or at least I will get information on other steps I need to include.

If you simply remember how to do something, then all you can do is use it the same way over and over, but if you understand how it works, you can reason about it. Once you can reason about something in your mind you can contemplate why it is the way it is, you can apply your entire creative mind to making the most of it, and you can implement and question improvement – you own it intellectually.

In a follow-up to his rocketry reviews in the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide, Stefan Jones sent us this wonderful backstory on how he got involved in hobby rocketry. It really brought back memories for me because I was introduced to model rocketry through the same year’s Estes catalog and had a very similar reaction. I’m sure many makers of our generation had a similar experience. -Gareth

This shield allows you to connect a HP C6602 inkjet cartridge to your Arduino turning it into a 96dpi print platform. It only uses 5 pins which can be jumper selected to avoid other shields. It is designed with a Arduino Mega footprint but fully supports both the Arduino and the Arduino Mega. It uses all through-hole components to make assembly easy even for beginners.

We’re super excited about our new issue, MAKE Volume 28, which just hit newsstands last week. The issue theme is Toys and Games, and naturally, our entire focus was on fun, from the playful 8-bit graphics style of the cover design by eBoy to the 176 pages of projects and profiles that give you ...

"So you want to build USB enabled devices. Bumble-B is here to help! It is a breakout board for Atmel's at90usb162 microcontroller, along with supporting hardware and USB connector. It is DIP-24/600mil shape, and works very well on a breadboard."

"Make Magazine editor and publisher Dale Dougherty has just announced Maker Faire Detroit which will take place July 31-August 1, 2010 at The Henry Ford Museum."

"Make:television with GO Tech!"

"The DIY mindset celebrated in this magazine must again become an essential life skill, rooted once again in necessity and practicality. Our future security lies in knowing what we’re capable of creating, and how we can adapt to change by being resourceful."

"We decided to take a shredder full of junk mail from countless credit card companies and home repair services and make some new paper out of it. "

Sew-casts? "OK Crafters & Makers, you're in for a treat, we're testing out something really new - delivering patterns over iTunes for our new zine CRAFT!"

"Spoke POV is an easy-to-make electronic kit toy that turns your bicycle wheel into a customized display!"

"MAKEbot is an Instant Message bot you can talk to and get the latest news, "pings", photos, bookmarks, projects, audio/video and more from MAKE from any computer or your phone!"

"PLEASE DO NOT BUILD THE POWER TAP AS SHOWN IN THE ILLUSTRATION. " First time I've gotten a safety notice in email for a magazine.

"by Steve Vigneau"

"We decided to rescue these books from that awful fate - and what better use for them than a bar from which to entertain our frequent guests?"