This is a project scaffold for Python
A common reaction to hearing about a Makefile from an absolute beginner to Python is, "why do I need this?". Generally, it is healthy to have skepticism about things that appear to add work. In the case of a Makefile, though, the reason to use them in a project is that they are less work because they keep track of complicated build steps that are very difficult to remember and type out correctly.
A great example is a lint step with the pylint tool. With a Makefile, you only need to run: make lint, and the same command can run inside a Continuous Integration server. The alternative approach is to type out the full directive each time you need it, such as the following.
pylint --disable=R,C *.py
This sequence is very prone to errors and quite tedious to repeatedly typing over your project's life. Instead, it is much simpler to type the following:
make lint
When you embrace the Makefile approach, it simplifies your workflow and makes it easier to integrate your project into a continuous integration system. There is less code to type, and this is always a good thing for automation. Further, Makefile commands are recognized by shell auto-completion, making it easy to "tab-complete" the steps.
Full Makefile example below
