> # it is conventional to prefix the variable variable with
> # a string literal so that it's easy to search for where the
> # variable variable is being used.
> local key = $(.my-expensive-rule-cache-$(targets)) ;
 
I made a mistake in the above example:
 
The line:
local key = $(.my-expensive-rule-cache-$(targets)) ;
 
Should be:
local key = .my-expensive-rule-cache-$(targets) ;