Practice · 1976–now · Foundations
Make
Dependency graphs as a file. Still the bootstrap build tool when everything else is too clever to trust.
Why Make stuck
Make stuck because the model — targets, prerequisites, timestamps — is correct for compiling C trees. It failed as a universal build system when languages needed package graphs and caching. Maven, Bazel, and npm stole the jobs; Make kept the kernel and the escape hatch.
Compare with
Related
Platform · 1971–now
Unix / POSIX
Process model, pipes, and files-as-interfaces. Linux and macOS still speak this dialect every day.
Language · 1972–now
C
The substrate language. Kernels, compilers, embedded — still the lingua franca when you need the metal.
Platform · 2015–now
Bazel
Hermetic builds for monorepos that hurt until they save you. Google brainworm or serious reproducibility — pick one.
Language · 1971–now
Unix shell
Pipes, globs, and glue. The programming language that never needed a framework conference.