Last updated : May 22, 2013
NOT ON THE CURRENT EDITION
This blip is not on the current edition of the Radar. If it was on one of the last few editions, it is likely that it is still relevant. If the blip is older, it might no longer be relevant and our assessment might be different today. Unfortunately, we simply don't have the bandwidth to continuously review blips from previous editions of the Radar.
Understand more
May 2013
Adopt
We feel strongly that the industry should be adopting these items. We use them when appropriate on our projects.
Language-based build tools like Gradle and Rake continue to offer finer-grained abstractions and more flexibility long term than XML and plug-in based tools like Ant and Maven. This allows them to grow gracefully as projects become more complex.
Oct 2012
Trial
Worth pursuing. It is important to understand how to build up this capability. Enterprises should try this technology on a project that can handle the risk.
Two things have caused fatigue with XML-based build tools like Ant and Maven: too many angry pointy braces and the coarseness of plug-in architectures. While syntax issues can be dealt with through generation, plug-in architectures severely limit the ability for build tools to grow gracefully as projects become more complex. We have come to feel that plug-ins are the wrong level of abstraction, and prefer language-based tools like Gradle and Rake instead, because they offer finer-grained abstractions and more flexibility long term.
Mar 2012
Assess
Worth exploring with the goal of understanding how it will affect your enterprise.
This tool was included in this edition of the Radar for visibility. We felt that there wasn't anything substantial to add to the discourse around it, but that it was important to keep this in view.
Jul 2011
Assess
Worth exploring with the goal of understanding how it will affect your enterprise.
Gradle is an attempt to bring sanity to the enterprise build space by marrying best-of-breed tools with cutting edge techniques. Gradle allows you to interact with your existing Maven repositories, but adds scriptability to your builds with a clean domain specific language.
Published : Jul 30, 2011
