Maven: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly, US $34.99) serves as both an introduction and a comprehensive reference for Apache Maven, the tool that will transform the way an organization builds and manages application development. Written by members of Sonatype's engineering team—including Jason van Zyl, the creator of the Maven central repository—the book explains why Maven is replacing Ant as the tool of choice, not just for open source Java projects, but for applications in many other languages, including Scala, Ruby, and Groovy. The book also provides the first in-depth overview of Maven 2.
Tim O'Brien, the primary contributor to the book, notes that while Maven's online documentation has been improving over time, it still has some frustrating gaps, despite the best efforts of many: "It will bring you far enough along to solving your problem and abandon you just when you needed it most," says O'Brien. "Sonatype recognized the need for a definitive, well-written reference book engineered for both novice and veteran Maven users. What Sonatype has tried to do with Maven: The Definitive Guide is assemble a vast amount of introductory and reference material in a single book with a clear and concise writing style. My goal was concise writing." O'Brien is online editor of O'Reilly News and author of three other O'Reilly titles: Harnessing Hibernate, Maven: A Developer's Notebook, and Jakarta Commons Cookbook.
O'Brien points out that Maven is a highly modular open source community with a sizable team of core committers and hundreds of plugin developers scattered throughout the world. With contributions coming from such diverse sources, it's difficult to create documentation with a single style and clarity, without the feedback and support that a publisher like O'Reilly can provide.
"There has been a great deal of criticism thrown at Maven over the past few years, and I've been party to some of that criticism. At the root of much of this criticism is a lack of understanding, an inability to use Maven not due to lack of capability but due to lack of documentation," says O'Brien. "I have often said that Maven's adoption has been limited by poorly executed and frustrating documentation, but with the release of this book, that criticism is no longer valid. There will always be more work to do, and Sonatype is committed to continuing to invest in critically important documentation efforts. We've created the reference that will serve as a foundation for future community growth, and this was only possible because of the support of Jason van Zyl at Sonatype and Mike Loukides at O'Reilly Media."
The first half of this book introduces Maven by example, with a series of real-world, multi-module applications that can be used as templates. The second half serves as a reference to a wide range of topics, teaching readers how to:
- Get started with Maven
- Understand the Project Object Model (POM)
- Integrate Maven with Eclipse
- Master advanced dependency management
- Use the Nexus repository manager
- Integrate Maven with Spring and Hibernate
- Write and use Maven plugins
- Generate a project website
- Customize a build with properties
- Use build profiles and profile activation
- Create and use Maven assemblies
- Develop with Maven archetypes
Written for the new user and veteran alike, Maven: The Definitive Guide is the perfect guide to managing development projects for software, web applications, and enterprise applications.
For a review copy or more information please email kathrynb@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
Additional Resources:
For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and cover graphic, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517335
ISBN: 9780596517335, 468 pages, Book Price: $34.99 USD, £21.99 GBP
PDF Price: $27.99 USD
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.