Software is a program or set of programs containing instructions that provide the desired functionality and Engineering is the process of designing and building something that serves a particular purpose and finds a cost-effective solution to problems. Gradle and Maven are different tools used to build software. In this article, the differences between these two tools are discussed.
Gradle: Gradle is an open-source tool that helps us to create software with mechanization. This tool is widely used for the creation of different kinds of software due to its high performance. It works on Java and a Groovy-based Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for developing the project structure. Gradle supports the creation of mobile and web applications with testing and deploying on various platforms. With its functionality, it is preferred as an official tool for developing Android applications.
Advantages of Gradle –
- Its highly customizable property. The tool can be modified under various technologies for diverse projects.
- The performance of Gradle is very fast and efficient. It is around 2x in speed to that of Maven.
- Gradle is a tool used for creating plug-ins and is a flexible instrument.
- It provides a wide variety of IDEs for an enhanced user experience.
Disadvantages of Gradle –
- Great technical expertise is required to build tasks with Gradle.
- It does not come with inbuilt ant project structure.
- Documentation of Gradle is somewhat extensive.
- Ant build scripts are to be drafted with the help of XML. Moreover , to automate a difficult project , a lot of logic need to be written in XML files.
Maven: Maven is an open-source project management tool that helps us to create different software in the lifecycle used by this tool. This tool focuses on the standardization (i.e.) development of the software in a standard layout within a short duration of time. With this, we can create Java projects but is compatible to be used for other languages too. Maven uses Extensible Markup language(XML) for the structuring of the application.
Advantages of Maven –
- The process of project building is simplified and well organized.
- Maven automatically executes the task of downloading Jar files and the other dependencies.
- Maven can easily incorporate new dependencies by formulating the dependency code in the POM file.
- It facilitates easy access to all the essential information.
- It’s extensible and plug-ins can be easily written using scripting languages or Java.
Disadvantages of Maven –
- Installation in the working system is needed.
- We can not implement a dependency using Maven if the Maven code for existing dependency is not found.
- In terms of execution of project , Maven is quite slow,
The following table describes the differences between the two tools:
| Basis | Gradle | Maven |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | Gradle is based on developing domain-specific language projects. | Maven is based on developing pure Java language-based software. |
| Configuration | It uses a Groovy-based Domain-specific language(DSL) for creating project structure. | It uses Extensible Markup Language(XML) for creating project structure. |
| Focuses on | Developing applications by adding new features to them. | Developing applications in a given time limit. |
| Performance | It performs better than maven as it optimized for tracking only current running task. | It does not create local temporary files during software creation, and is hence – slower. |
| Java Compilation | It avoids compilation. | It is necessary to compile. |
| Usability | It is a new tool, which requires users to spend a lot of time to get used to it. | This tool is a known tool for many users and is easily available. |
| Customization | This tool is highly customizable as it supports a variety of IDE’s. | This tool serves a limited amount of developers and is not that customizable. |
| Languages supported | It supports software development in Java, C, C++, and Groovy. | It supports software development in Java, Scala, C#, and Ruby. |
| Project Configuration | For declaring the project configuration, it does not use the XML files. | For declaring the project configuration, it uses the XML files. |
| Based on | Graph of task dependencies that do the work. | On the phases of the fixed and linear model. |
| Goal | To add functionality in the project is the main goal of the Gradle. | To finish the project in the given timeline is the main goal of the Maven. |
