For our production code we apply a wealth of design values and principles. Currently this is rarely done for our builds. Yet the project automation domain, specially in the enterprise, is often at least as complex as the business domain. The design of a build is also heavily influenced and possibly constrained by the design of the build system you are using.
The build systems under review (Ant. Maven, Gradle) are dramatically different and thus the design of the corresponding builds. We will talk about best practices for build design and how different build systems might support that or stand in the way, thus preventing expressive, maintainable and easy to use builds. Those differences should be a major factor when you are choosing a build system appropriate to your needs.
The presentation is available at:
https://prezi.com/secure/6fb2b21de9c6c1b9247a5f4007849e3d4e8814d3/
Hans Dockter is the founder and project lead of the Gradle build system and the CEO of Gradle Inc, a company that provides training, support and consulting for Gradle and all forms of enterprise software project automation in general.
Hans has 13 years of experience as a software developer, team leader, architect, trainer, and technical mentor. Hans is a thought leader in the field of project automation and has successfully been in charge of numerous large-scale enterprise builds. He is also an advocate of Domain Driven Design, having taught classes and delivered presentations on this topic together with Eric Evans. In the earlier days, Hans was also a committer for the JBoss project and founded the JBoss-IDE.
