ANT stands for another neat tool. It is a Java-based build tool from Apache. Before we get into the details of Apache Ant, let’s first understand why we need a build tool.
We need a build tool
On an average, a developer spends a significant amount of time on routine tasks such as build and deployment, which include:
- Compiling code;
- Packaging binaries;
- Deploying the binaries to a test server;
- Testing changes;
- Copying code from one location to another.
To automate and simplify the above tasks, Apache Ant is useful. It is an operating system build and deployment tool that can be run from the command line.
Features of Apache Ant
- Ant is the most comprehensive Java build and deployment tool available;
- Ant is platform independent and can handle platform-specific properties such as file delimiters;
- Ant can be used to perform platform-specific tasks, such as changing the file modification time using the “touch” command;
- Ant scripts are written using simple XML. If you are already familiar with XML, you can learn Ant fairly quickly.
- Ant is good at automating complex repetitive tasks;
- Ant comes with a large list of predefined tasks.;
- Ant provides an interface for developing custom tasks;
- Ant is easily invoked from the command line and can integrate with free and commercial IDEs.
Ant is the most comprehensive Java build and deployment tool available.
Ant is platform-independent and can handle platform-specific properties such as file delimiters.
Ant can be used to perform platform-specific tasks, such as changing the file modification time with the “touch” command.
Ant scripts are written using simple XML. If you are already familiar with XML, you can learn Ant fairly quickly.