A snapshot to begin your Magento 1 module
Clone repository..
git clone git@github.com:bennoislost/magento-module-skeleton.git .
composer install command will download and extract magento core with useful development modules into ./magento. From here you can use a tool like n98-magerun.phar to create your skeleton module structure.
mage:redeploy- Redeploymagento-module&magento-corecomposer packages into Magento root directory.mage:cache:flush- Will purge cache directory.
Download the following tools for more win.