Oh, one more I forgot. Adding Cactus tests for your Ant app is a pain if you do it properly, as evidenced by all the targets in the old Struts Ant build files. And I had loads of problems keeping them all running. With Maven, Cactus support is virtually free. The first time I tried it on a project, all I did was put my test cases in the default location, and everything just worked. Awesome!
-- Martin Cooper On 8/8/05, Martin Cooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Maven does an astonishing amount of work for you. As evidence, I > suggest looking at the generated Ant build file from a simple Maven > project.xml file, and thinking about how long it would take you to > write all of that functionality if you're writing the Ant build.xml > file by hand. As further evidence, I suggest looking at a > Maven-generated web site and seeing just how much is generated for you > from very little that you actually had to write, with all of the > links, reports, and auto-generated documentation. > > All of this, of course, *could* be done with Ant. But do you really > want to spend your volunteer time writing boatloads of Ant build > script when you could just let Maven do it all for you? And when Maven > can generate an Ant build file for you anyway, so the folks who want > to use Ant can still do so? > > And then there'e the reusability. If you hand code an Ant build file, > will you really take the time to ensure that all of those targets > could be reused on a new project in a couple of months? Probably not. > On the next project, you'll go through the same process all over > again. With Maven, you can usually just copy an existing project.xml > and tweak a couple of values, and you're done; the rest still comes > free, right out of the box. > > I used to be a "forget Maven, I know Ant and don't want to change" > kinda guy, but once I really started using Maven, I realised what I > had been missing before. It's a lot like the way many people thought > about Subversion before the move - whining about no real point in > moving away from CVS, and then finally overjoyed at what they found > when they finally started using Subversion for real. Except with > Maven, it's even better, because people can still use that > auto-generated Ant build file if they want. > > -- > Martin Cooper > > > On 8/8/05, Frank W. Zammetti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I've seen comments for a while now how Maven is better than Ant... just a > > few minutes ago James posted that Maven is "just smart software". I > > didn't want to hijack that thread, hence this new one. > > > > I'm not at all trying to start a flame war here, but I'd like to ask, can > > anyone enumerate some real, legitimate reasons, as far as you are > > concerned at least!, why Maven is better than Ant (or vice-versa if you > > feel that way). > > > > I'm personally quite comfortable with Ant... it does everything I ask of > > it without feeling like its fighting me... I write all my scripts by hand > > and I don't feel at all like that's a burden, in fact it feels like the > > power is right where it is supposed to be: with me. > > > > Maven, in my admittedly very limited exposure to it, has seemed confusing > > and rather overwhelming. Anything of even moderate complexity and power > > feels like that for a while and I recognize that, but I'm trying to decide > > if I truly would gain enough to make the learning curve worth it, and to > > perhaps ultimately try and convince people at work to do so as well. > > > > What will I actually gain, what benefits will I derive? I'm looking for > > real, concrete things, things which could, theoretically at least, be > > supported by evidence. Each person is entitled to their preferences for > > whatever reasons they like, but those don't serve to truly convince anyone > > though :) > > > > -- > > Frank W. Zammetti > > Founder and Chief Software Architect > > Omnytex Technologies > > http://www.omnytex.com > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
