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Ant Introduction

Ant is a Java based build tool, similar to make, but with better support for the cross platform issues involved with developing Java applications. Ant is the build tool of choice for all Java projects at Apache and many other Open Source Java projects. Ant can be configured to compile your java source code files, build your deployment JAR and WAR files, unit-test code and create projects javadoc documentation.
Ant 1.6.0 adds a lot of new features, most prominently support for XML namespaces as well as a new concept of Ant libraries that makes use of namespaces to avoid name clashes of custom tasks.

Advantages of Ant

  1. Build IN Java, USING Java, and FOR Java
  2. Supports Java Tools (javac, javadoc, etc.)
  3. XML Build File is Easier to Build, Read, and Maintain than MAKE file
  4. Easier to Extend
  5. Supports Cross Platform Java Development
  6. Ant is much faster than using MAKE ? Each command is a new process
  7. Ant runs within the JVM
  8. Each command is executed from within JVM
  9. Tools like javac are new threads – not new process
  10. Compiling large number of java source files is MUCH,MUCH faster with Ant
  11. Ant's Debug Options are very helpful
  12. XML much easier to read than MAKEFILE
  13. User does not need to know all command line interface options to tools that can be called programmatically
  14. Even OS-Specific commands can be setup in 'TaskDefs' and/or included from other sources

In which year did the use of Maven surpass ANT as a Java build tool?

It's difficult to say exactly when Maven surpassed ANT as a Java build tool, as adoption of build tools can vary depending on a number of factors such as company size, specific industry, and individual developer preferences. However, it is generally agreed upon that Maven has become more popular than ANT in the Java development community since its initial release in 2005.