Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

by Steven Holzner (Author)
Key Phrases: deploying applications, running ant, running test cases, Attribute Description Required Default, Testing Builds, Getting Source Code (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Soon after its launch, Ant succeeded in taking the Java world by storm, becoming the most widely used tool for building applications in Java environments. Like most popular technologies, Ant quickly went through a series of early revision cycles. With each new version, more functionality was added, and more complexity was introduced. Ant evolved from a simple-to-learn build tool into a full-fledged testing and deployment environment. Ant: The Definitive Guide has been reworked, revised and expanded upon to reflect this evolution. It documents the new ways that Ant is being applied, as well as the array of optional tasks that Ant supports. In fact, this new second edition covers everything about this extraordinary build management tool from downloading and installing, to using Ant to test code. Here are just of a few of the features you'll find detailed in this comprehensive, must-have guide:

• Developing conditional builds, and handling error conditions
• Automatically retrieving source code from version control systems
• Using Ant with XML files
• Using Ant with JavaServer Pages to build Web applications
• Using Ant with Enterprise JavaBeans to build enterprise applications

Far exceeding its predecessor in terms of information and detail, Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition is a must-have for Java developers unfamiliar with the latest advancements in Ant technology. With this book at your side, you'll soon be up to speed on the premiere tool for cross-platform development. Author Steve Holzner is an award-winning author who s been writing about Java topics since the language first appeared; his books have sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.

About the Author
Steve Holzner is an award-winning author who has been writing about Java topics since Java first appeared. He's a former PC Magazine contributing editor, and his many books have been translated into 18 languages around the world. His books sold more than 1.5 million copies, and many of his bestsellers have been on Java. Steve graduated from MIT and got his PhD at Cornell; he's been a very popular member of the faculty at both MIT and Cornell, teaching thousands of students over the years and earning an average student evaluation over 4.9 out of 5.0. He also runs his own software company and teaches week-long classes to corporate programmers on Java around the country.

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (April 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596006098
• ISBN-13: 978-0596006099
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #311,592 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A *Guide*, not a *Reference*, August 22, 2005

By	J. Malin "technical technical wrter" (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is exactly what it's title says: a *guide* to using Apache Ant, particularly for Java development. Note, though, that it is *not* a *reference*. It does not describe each Ant task in detail, nor does it document all the allowable Ant XML elements.

That's why I was disappointed with this book, and only gave it three stars. O'Reilly has an unfortunate habit of giving the same type of title to any of its books on a subject, regardless of their real content. Thus, "HTML and XHTML: The Definitive Guide" is a both a *guide* and a *reference*, and pretty much the only HTML book you need.

"Ant", on the other hand, really needs a companion reference for more experienced Ant users. Anyone who uses Ant soon realizes that the online documentation is less than stellar.

This book is a necessary starting point for Ant; now we need more! Ant, after all, is worth documenting, since it's *much* better than any alternative out there.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for getting acquainted with Ant, May 9, 2006

By	Douglas Welzel (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you've never used Ant before, this is the book for you. It covers basic Ant concepts and enough of Ant usage so that you know where to look when you need more help. When you're done with this book you'll know how to set up basic builds, run unit tests and integrate with various environments such as Eclipse.

That said, I find the book frustrating because of its guide nature. Nothing in the book is laid out in a way that makes it easy to use as a reference. Even when you go to a chapter on a particular topic, the information you need quickly is presented in the right form. Now that I'm familiar with Ant I find using online references adequate for just about everything.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Completely different from the first edition..., May 25, 2005

By	E. Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have the first edition, which is more of a "how to use ant" book. The second edition is a "how to make ant useful" book. In that way, the second edition is completely different from the first. The chapters are "task" oriented as opposed to descriptions of Ant APIs. For example, "Deploying Builds" covers various Ant tasks and properties that will help you put together an Ant build.xml to deploy a build. An easy way to see if the book will work for you is to check the chapter headings.

Well written and pretty comprehensive - whether you're already comfortable with ant or new to ant, this is definately a great book to pick up.