Over the last couple of years, Maven has slowly replaced Ant as the de facto build tool for Java developers. A lot of that has to do with the simplicity, organization and power Maven brings to projects. Even so, there are many developers still unfamiliar with Maven. If you are one of these developers, this session will bring you up to speed with everything Maven has to offer. This includes creating your very first Maven project, learning the significance of the POM file, letting Maven and its repositories manage your dependencies, and reporting on the health of your projects. And if you are currently an Ant user, there will be a side-by-side comparison of these two tools' build philosophies.
In this session we will cover:
- Fundamental differences between Ant and Maven
- Maven basics: the POM file and Maven repositories
- Dependency management
- Creating a build artifact