From owner-freebsd-java Tue Feb 26 8:41: 4 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-java@freebsd.org Received: from scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net (scaup.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.49]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7651637B402 for ; Tue, 26 Feb 2002 08:40:57 -0800 (PST) Received: from dialup-64.157.61.24.dial1.washington1.level3.net ([64.157.61.24] helo=[192.168.1.2]) by scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 16fkee-0001DH-00; Tue, 26 Feb 2002 08:40:41 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: bcox@linux.virtualschool.edu Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <23033.200202261608@todday> References: <23033.200202261608@todday> Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 11:40:37 -0500 To: Jeff Dalton , freebsd-java@FreeBSD.ORG From: Brad Cox Subject: Re: What is ant good for? Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: owner-freebsd-java@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org At 4:08 PM +0000 2/26/02, Jeff Dalton wrote: >I've been reading the "tools" discussion, and all I use is emacs, >jdk, and Netscape for reading the on-line documentation. The only >change I'm tempted to make is to start using ant. > >But every time I've looked at anyone's ant script (is script >the right word?), it's seemed alarmingly complex. > >So I'm wondering whether ant does anything that would make it >worth the effort of learning to use it. > >Does it, for instance, work out the dependencies between files >to determine what needs to be recompiled and what doesn't? Yes, but that's rarely useful since jikes handles dependencies internally. Ant is a portable alternative to unix make. Of course, make is alarmingly complex too. ;) -- Brad Cox, PhD; bcox@virtualschool.edu 703 361 4751 o For industrial age goods there were checks and credit cards. For everything else there is http://virtualschool.edu/mybank o Java Interactive Learning Environment http://virtualschool.edu/jile o Java Web Application Architecture: http://virtualschool.edu/jwaa To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-java" in the body of the message