Re: compare ant vs cons

[ken]

John -

I've used cons for several years on Java development projects and it has been 
very successful.  I recently decided to investigate to Ant just to see how it 
compares.  What I found was a mixed bag.

To its credit, Ant has lots of pre-built tasks related to Java development.  
I've not used recent releases of cons, but I don't believe it has the same 
level 
of Java-specific functionality.  However, in my view, Ant has a couple of 
significant weaknesses.  

1. Ant doesn't handle subprojects well.  Ant's "ant" task and targeting 
paradigm 
do not make for a scalable build process in my view.  Which means that you 
either have to play games with the build invocations or rely upon monolithic 
build files (which can be difficult to maintain.)  One of the real strengths of 
cons is its ability to decentralize the commands which govern the work to be 
preformed.

2. Using Ant, I think you end up writing more build code to do the same amount 
of work.  For example, there is some Ant code to build some Java sources:

    <javac srcdir="${source.home}" destdir="${javac.dest.dir}"
           classpath="${javac.dest.dir}:${default.webapp.classpath}"
           debug="on" verbose="${this.verbose}">
      <include name="${java.path}/*.java"/>
    </javac>

Here is some cons code that does the same thing (using some of my own 
extensions)

    $CONS = new cons::Java();
    $CONS->javaCompile('*.java');
     
I think the difference between these two is quite clear.  In the case of the 
Ant, the javac task call is concern with lots of configuration stuff.  In the 
cons example, the cons::Java class is already preset to know to handle java 
compiles.  The result is simple (easier to maintain) build files.

I'm "on the fence" about Ant.  I think it is a fine tool if you have just a 
coule of projects to manage. And, it is well established.  But, you cannot beat 
cons for flexibility and scalability (especially if you are familiar with perl.)

Given your needs for both C++ and Java, I would probably use cons.     

Ken

Quoting JohnA <address@hidden>:

> I am trying to compare ant vs cons in the following environment:
> 
> - WinNT / 2K 
> - few, if any, third party libraries
> - small (~50 projects)
> - C++ mostly using MSVC (possibly going to gcc)
> - Java using Jikes
> 
> Has anyone already done this sort of comparison? If so, could you post
> your conclusions?
> 
> TIA,
> John
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Cons URL: http://www.dsmit.com/cons/
>