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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Javascript Build Tools
  5. Apache Ant vs gulp

Apache Ant vs gulp

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

gulp
gulp
Stacks15.3K
Followers9.1K
Votes1.7K
GitHub Stars33.0K
Forks4.2K
Apache Ant
Apache Ant
Stacks250
Followers151
Votes7
GitHub Stars449
Forks449

Apache Ant vs gulp: What are the differences?

Apache Ant: Java based build tool. Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code; gulp: The streaming build system. Build system automating tasks: minification and copying of all JavaScript files, static images. More capable of watching files to automatically rerun the task when a file changes.

Apache Ant can be classified as a tool in the "Java Build Tools" category, while gulp is grouped under "JS Build Tools / JS Task Runners".

Some of the features offered by Apache Ant are:

  • The most complete Java build and deployment tool available.
  • Platform neutral and can handle platform specific properties such as file separators
  • Can be used to perform platform specific tasks such as modifying the modified time of a file using 'touch' command

On the other hand, gulp provides the following key features:

  • By preferring code over configuration, gulp keeps simple things simple and makes complex tasks manageable.
  • By harnessing the power of node's streams you get fast builds that don't write intermediary files to disk.
  • gulp's strict plugin guidelines assure plugins stay simple and work the way you expect.

"Flexible" is the top reason why over 3 developers like Apache Ant, while over 454 developers mention "Build speed" as the leading cause for choosing gulp.

Apache Ant and gulp are both open source tools. gulp with 31.3K GitHub stars and 4.4K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Apache Ant with 244 GitHub stars and 255 GitHub forks.

According to the StackShare community, gulp has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1158 company stacks & 690 developers stacks; compared to Apache Ant, which is listed in 24 company stacks and 12 developer stacks.

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Detailed Comparison

gulp
gulp
Apache Ant
Apache Ant

Build system automating tasks: minification and copying of all JavaScript files, static images. More capable of watching files to automatically rerun the task when a file changes.

Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code.

By preferring code over configuration, gulp keeps simple things simple and makes complex tasks manageable.;By harnessing the power of node's streams you get fast builds that don't write intermediary files to disk.;gulp's strict plugin guidelines assure plugins stay simple and work the way you expect.;With a minimal API surface, you can pick up gulp in no time. Your build works just like you envision it: a series of streaming pipes.
The most complete Java build and deployment tool available.;Platform neutral and can handle platform specific properties such as file separators;Can be used to perform platform specific tasks such as modifying the modified time of a file using 'touch' command;Scripts are written using plain XML. If you are already familiar with XML, you can learn pretty quickly;Automate complicated repetitive tasks;Interface to develop custom tasks;Can be easily invoked from the command line and it can integrate with free and commercial IDEs
Statistics
GitHub Stars
33.0K
GitHub Stars
449
GitHub Forks
4.2K
GitHub Forks
449
Stacks
15.3K
Stacks
250
Followers
9.1K
Followers
151
Votes
1.7K
Votes
7
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 451
    Build speed
  • 277
    Readable
  • 244
    Code-over-configuration
  • 210
    Open source
  • 175
    Node streams
Pros
  • 4
    Flexible
  • 1
    Easy to learn
  • 1
    Simple
  • 1
    Easy to write own java-build-hooks
Cons
  • 1
    Slow
  • 1
    Old and not widely used anymore

What are some alternatives to gulp, Apache Ant?

Webpack

Webpack

A bundler for javascript and friends. Packs many modules into a few bundled assets. Code Splitting allows to load parts for the application on demand. Through "loaders" modules can be CommonJs, AMD, ES6 modules, CSS, Images, JSON, Coffeescript, LESS, ... and your custom stuff.

Grunt

Grunt

The less work you have to do when performing repetitive tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, linting, etc, the easier your job becomes. After you've configured it, a task runner can do most of that mundane work for you—and your team—with basically zero effort.

Apache Maven

Apache Maven

Maven allows a project to build using its project object model (POM) and a set of plugins that are shared by all projects using Maven, providing a uniform build system. Once you familiarize yourself with how one Maven project builds you automatically know how all Maven projects build saving you immense amounts of time when trying to navigate many projects.

Gradle

Gradle

Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. If you are building, testing, publishing, and deploying software on any platform, Gradle offers a flexible model that can support the entire development lifecycle from compiling and packaging code to publishing web sites.

Bazel

Bazel

Bazel is a build tool that builds code quickly and reliably. It is used to build the majority of Google's software, and thus it has been designed to handle build problems present in Google's development environment.

Brunch

Brunch

Brunch is an assembler for HTML5 applications. It's agnostic to frameworks, libraries, programming, stylesheet & templating languages and backend technology.

Pants

Pants

Pants is a build system for Java, Scala and Python. It works particularly well for a source code repository that contains many distinct projects.

Parcel

Parcel

Parcel is a web application bundler, differentiated by its developer experience. It offers blazing fast performance utilizing multicore processing, and requires zero configuration.

rollup

rollup

It is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into something larger and more complex, such as a library or application. It uses the new standardized format for code modules included in the ES6 revision of JavaScript, instead of previous idiosyncratic solutions such as CommonJS and AMD.

Backpack

Backpack

Backpack is minimalistic build system for Node.js. Inspired by Facebook's create-react-app, Zeit's Next.js, and Remy's Nodemon, Backpack lets you create modern Node.js apps and services with zero configuration. Backpack handles all the file-watching, live-reloading, transpiling, and bundling, so you don't have to.

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