> Maven - Convention over Configuration

What is Maven

Maven is at its simplest is a build tool which produces artifacts and handle dependency management. It is also used as a project management tool:
> It handle versioning and releases
> Describe what project is doing and each component it produces
>Can easily produce Java Docs and Site information

Ant Vs Maven

Ant

Ant is not really a build tool, its a scripting tool.
You need to explicitly script and define everything in the XML.
Cannot reuse the build scripts across projects.
Ant very declarative.

Maven

Maven is a fully fledged build tool.
Consistency across projects.
Lots of implicit functionality
Also capable of achieving inheritance
Transitive dependencies
Build around versioning
Follows Convention over Configuration