Do we need Ant Knowledge for the book?

[Ko Ko Naing]

I have already skimmed throught the sample chapter(chapter-3) of the book. And I found out that the book uses ANT to compile the source code... Frankly, I have no idea about ANT. But I do know that it is very useful in automatic compiling for source codes in a project.

Mr. Rob, does the ANT usage in the book need a reader to have beginner level or intermediate level to go on with the book? And I do believe that there are ways to compile SWT applicaitons without using ANT.

Thanks...

[Rob Warner]

You don't need any Ant knowledge, though our book provides all you need if you do choose to use Ant. The Ant build files are provided as a convenience, but no, you don't have to use them. You can use your own IDE, be it Eclipse or some other, to compile and run the source. You can use command line tools (javac, java) to compile and run. Whatever you're comfortable with, you can use.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Mr.Rob,
Thank you for your warm reply. As for ANT, could you please identify why you chose ANT in the book examples? Is there any specific reason to use ANT with SWT? I heard that ANT is built-in with Eclipse and as for convenience, do you just use ANT to compile the examples in the book? If I am not wrong, there is no specific reason to use ANT for the examples in the book, but for the compiling convenience in Eclipse.

Correct me, if I am wrong... Thank you very much, Mr.Rob...

[Rob Warner]

Ant has become the standard way to compile Java apps, supplanting make. It's actually simple to use, and very powerful. I recommend that you learn it--you won't regret it

[Eusebio Floriano]

Develop big projects without ant is practically impossible.
Here a good article about new ant 1.6 features for big projects - http://otn.oracle.com/pub/articles/bodewig_ant1.6.html

Regards

[Pradeep bhatt]

My day never goes without Ant.

[Alvin chew]

any good references for ANT ? frankly , as like ko ko , i have no idea on ANT ...hope somebody can help , thank you !

[Pradeep bhatt]

Here is the ant manual
http://ant.apache.org/manual/

You can also search in the Ant forum for more references.

[Ko Ko Naing]

I do would like to thank everybody for explanation on ANT and its great features... I've decided to learn ANT soon... I have been using JBuilder everyday version by version... I've seen ANT support in JBuilder, but I did not pay an attention on it...

Since it is built-in, at least it's ready for me to learn the features, not installation...

Thanks a lot!!!