Maven

Maven

Maven is a build automation tool used primarily for Java projects. It handles downloading dependencies, building, testing, and packaging Java code. Maven emphasizes convention over configuration, with sensible defaults to reduce setup time for builds.
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java build-automation dependency-management

Maven: Build Automation Tool

Build automation tool used primarily for Java projects, handling dependencies, building, testing, and packaging Java code with convention over configuration

What is Maven?

Maven is a software project management and build automation tool used primarily for Java projects. It handles dependencies, builds, tests, reporting, and packaging for Java code in an automated fashion.

Some key features of Maven include:

  • Dependency Management - Maven downloads Java libraries and dependencies your project needs so you don't have to hunt them down manually
  • Uniform Build System - Maven provides a standardized way to build, test, package, and install your Java software
  • Project Information - Maven provides details about your project and its dependencies to help other developers better understand how the different pieces fit together
  • Plenty of Plugins - Maven has over 1000 plugins available to customize and extend its functionality for particular build tasks
  • Easy Release Management - Maven makes it simple to release different project versions by handling version numbering, tagging, and artifact storage

By providing sensible defaults and standardizing common build tasks, Maven emphasizes convention over configuration. This means less setup time and infrastructure code is needed to manage Java projects. Due to its vast adoption, most Java developers are already familiar with how Maven structures and builds projects.

Maven Features

Features

  1. Project management
  2. Dependency management
  3. Build automation
  4. Testing automation
  5. Packaging

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Simplifies builds

Promotes convention over configuration

Handles dependency management automatically

Plugin architecture to extend functionality

Wide adoption in Java ecosystem

Cons

Steep learning curve

Configuration can get complex for larger projects

Build times can be slow for projects with many dependencies


The Best Maven Alternatives

Top Development and Build Tools and other similar apps like Maven


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