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Help, Apache Ant for Dummies! (Lowest level most dummed down guide)

 
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hello all i was wondering where i could find the most dummed down tutorial for using apache ant (or the best/ most basic one, to take someone from little to no experience who doesnt really know how java works, i just know write code and to learn apache ant).

heres alittle background on me. I have been programing for 6 years in java and until 1 month ago it was all in textpad or something similiar and it was all in one folder with a main method in one class. now im using eclipse and working in the ant world (much better than compiling everything by hand like i did in textpad or drJava). However i have little to no experience what is happening other than whats in the .java file. I write almost anything but im not sure how the jvm works or what exactly a .class does, ect. so if there was a good thing about how java works on your machine or what turns into what, like from high level java code to byte code, to jvm code, to machine code (i have no clue)) thats also a book i should buy.

i checked out their(apache) documentation and it wasn't bad, but i was looking for something a bit more hands on. like something where i could follow it and build.xmls (the ant files as i go along and learn how references work ect)

generally speaking the For dummies book have never been too hard for me but i doubt someone would write one for Apache Ant. (maybe some 3rd party wiki or some developer has something basic? or is their documentation the lowest level there is)?

*****Long story short if i were to go to borders or amazon what kind of book is the closest to a click by click line by line dummies guide for someone who wants to learn ant? thank you
 
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I swear by Java Development With Ant. It is a little outdated, but still an excellent introduction and reference.
 
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Tupac,
Welcome to JavaRanch!

I think Ant in Action is a good title for beginners. It's not "dumbed down" in that it doesn't assume the reader is a fool. But it does explain everything clearly and step-by-step with plenty of examples you can just copy in and run. See my JavaRanch review for more details.

It's also a current book and addresses possible issues/gotchas with Ant 1.7 (the current version.) While I like the book Peter recommended, it doesn't have this latest information.
 
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Look for Maven in Action coming soon! Maven is a better tool than Ant.

Regards
Vyas, Anirudh
 
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Maven is a better tool than Ant.


That, of course, is a highly contentious statement. It should be prefixed by "I think that ..." Many people who like Ant dislike Maven.
[ July 18, 2008: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]
 
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I agree with Ulf here. I have been using Ant for a long time now and i just started using Maven for some of my sample applications. I don't yet hate Maven , but i do see that both these tools, though are used for building applications, are very different from each other.
 
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I guess Mavan internally uses ANT runtime for build purposes. I started using Maven and to tell you, it is really awesome.
 
Anirudh Vyas
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Ulf et. al,

I apologize, i was merely stating my opinion, you are right, i should have added "I think".

Regards
Vyas, Anirudh
 
Amaru Shakur
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thanks alot all, the help was appreciated.
and sadly im stuck with ant because thats what everyone uses and i dont think they would want me to switch half way through a project to Maven.
 
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"Tupac Shakur", please check your private messages for an important administrative matter.
 
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