Maven & Gradle

Maven and Gradle are the two dominant build automation tools in the Java ecosystem. They provide a standardized way to build projects, manage dependencies, and run tests. Maven uses a declarative approach with its `pom.xml` file. You define what you want to do (e.g., package the project) and what you need (e.g., dependencies), and Maven's rigid lifecycle handles the how. It follows a strong 'convention over configuration' principle, expecting your project to have a standard directory structure. This makes it easy to understand any Maven project once you know the conventions. Maven's dependency management is powerful; it resolves transitive dependencies and handles version conflicts, downloading required JARs from a central repository like Maven Central. Gradle offers a more flexible and powerful approach. It uses a Domain Specific Language (DSL) based on Groovy or Kotlin in its `build.gradle` files. This makes build scripts more concise and readable than Maven's XML. Gradle's build process is based on a graph of tasks, giving you fine-grained control over the build process. While it also has conventions, it's easier to override them than in Maven. Gradle often boasts better performance due to its incremental build capabilities and build cache, which avoid re-running tasks that haven't changed. While both tools are excellent, Gradle is often favored in modern projects, especially in the Android ecosystem, for its flexibility and performance, whereas Maven remains a very solid and widely used choice in the enterprise world.