Make - An afterburner for your command-line

"Let’s describe make in non-programmer terms - make allows you to sequence commands or create groups thereof.

Uses for make:

Make can be used:

1. To create shorthands for complex (or multi-stage) command pipelines
2. To wrap shell scripts in mnemonics
3. To create temporary environments (even GUI workspaces)
4. To create test harnesses
5. In new and as yet unforseen ways. "

http://ergo.rydlr.net/?p=37