Before we dive much deeper into this, it is good to get this one clear. This is just a basic overview of Gradle and not an in-depth dissection and breakdown of the aforementioned tool. It is no way a review of the product but a complement to the article on build tools.
Build tools are no strangers to experienced software engineers depending on the programming language of expertise and this tool is just one of these tools that have attracted the attention of some of the larger corporate organizations worldwide
How Does Gradle Fit In?
Well, Gradle has its place among the best and is arguably better in certain situations. So what is build tool all about? You might ask. It is a build automation tool that has support for multiple programming languages. These languages include Java, C, C++, Groovy and Scala. Gradle is also a build automation tool for Android.
Gradle comes closely integrated with Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). It supports the entire development life-cycle to compiling and packaging code. It can also be used to publish and deploy websites.
For convenience, there are plugins to get you started with your development in Eclipse, IntelliJ, and Jenkins. This tool is normally used from the command line interface. That includes building it itself to installing from the source to creating projects and compiling. Gradle is open source and is available in source form from Github. It is supported by Gradle Inc who offer both training and consultancy in all the aspects of using this build tool.
Being open source, contributors are welcome from the developer community. You can find a whole lot of information from the support team here.
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