Chapter 1. Introducing Ant

 

This chapter covers:

  • 1.1 What is Ant?
  • 1.2 What makes Ant so special?
  • 1.3 When to use Ant
  • 1.4 When not to use Ant
  • 1.5 Alternatives to Ant
  • 1.6 The ongoing evolution of Ant
  • 1.7 Summary

Welcome to the future of your build process.

This is a book about Ant. It’s more than just a reference book for Ant syntax, it’s a collection of best practices demonstrating how to use Ant to its greatest potential in real-world situations. If used well, you can develop and deliver your software projects better than you have done before.

Let’s start with a simple question: what is Ant?

1.1. What is Ant?

Ant is a build tool, a small program designed to help software teams develop big programs by automating all the drudge-work tasks of compiling code, running tests, and packaging the results for redistribution. Ant is written in Java and is designed to be cross-platform, easy to use, extensible, and scalable. It can be used in a small personal project, or it can be used in a large, multiteam software project. It aims to automate your entire build process.

1.2. What makes Ant so special?

1.3. When to use Ant

1.4. When not to use Ant

1.5. Alternatives to Ant

1.6. The ongoing evolution of Ant

1.7. Summary