Maven - Why not?
I guess I still get a little surprised when I see code for a Java project and there's not an automated Maven build. These projects often have an Ant script (many times the default one generated by Netbeans or Eclipse), but seldom a Maven POM file. I wonder why? Especially since Maven is so easy to use and really adds value over a vanilla Ant build. Maven takes an Ant build to a higher level of abstraction to where it's easier to manage and change. What I think I like most, is the idea of the Maven repository. It's a nice way to store and share application dependencies. In a typical Ant project, dependent JARs will be stored in source control along side the source code (typically in a lib directory). This can make initial checkouts of these projects S-L-O-W. Compounding the problem is when a set of projects use a framework like Spring. Each project will store it's own set of Spring jars with the source, forcing developers to download the same set of jars mult...