Question

please research software build and automation tools such as Maven, ANT, and Gradle. Answer the following in your post:

- What are used for and how are they used? - Compare and contrast each of the tools. - What are the benefits and best uses of each tool? Make sure you main post is 200 words.

Answer 1

Maven, ANT, Gradle are the most used java build automation tools They act as a java library that help in automating build processes for Java Applications. To use these tools we just need to write the XML build files, except Gradle which uses a DSL based on Groovy.

Comparison:

1. ANT:

Apache ANT(Another neat tool) is a build tool developed in 2000. XML is used to write the build scripts which has a major drawback which is that it doesn't work good with procedural languages due to hierarchic nature. It also lacks built-in support for dependency management and frustrations of writing long XML files.

The only benefit of using ANT is that it is very flexible as doesn't impose any coding conventions.

2. Maven:

Maven was developed in 2004, whose main aim was to overcome the drawbacks of ANT which are dependency management and long XML files. To overcome these drawbacks Maven imposed coding conventions and provides predefined command goals. Maven can solve problems of a specific domain only.

Main benefit of Maven is that we can easily pass the life cycle of the project having certain standards.

3. Gradle

Gradle has combined features of both ANT's flexibility and Maven's dependency management. It was released in 2012. Gradle doesn't use XML whereas it uses its own DSL based on Groovy ( one of JVM languages).

Hence its management and convention both are good.

Conclusion:

Gradle is the most powerful tool, But some functionalities are not required from Gradle in a project hence Maven can be used in small projects whereas Gradle is good for big projects. In today's market Maven hold the majority of shares.