MEL

Or Maya Embedded Language, is Maya's most easily accessible programming interface. Without knowing it, you have been using MEL from the very moment you opened Maya. Selecting an object or displaying a dialog box is the direct result of a MEL command being executed. In fact, the entire Maya graphical user interface (GUI) is controlled by MEL. Almost all of Maya's functionality can be accessed through it. When you use the Maya interface, you are indirectly issuing MEL commands that in turn do the real work. Behind the scenes Maya is running MEL commands and scripts in response to your mouse clicks and selections.

My interest in MEL lies in the possibility of incorporating Maya functionality into a design process and using it as a tool in a creative process. As such I use MEL through its application programming interface for C++, and through remotely running and connecting to Autodesk Maya on a headless server using scripts. MEL as such has great value as and indirect helper.