Maven's core concepts include Project Object Model (POM), dependency management, build lifecycle, and plugin system. POM is the central configuration file of a Maven project, using XML format to describe project basic information, dependencies, build configuration, etc. Dependency management automatically downloads and manages required jar packages through central and local repositories, solving the pain points of traditional manual dependency management. Maven's build lifecycle is divided into three phases: clean, default, and site, each containing multiple phases such as compile, test, and package. The plugin system extends Maven's functionality, allowing developers to customize build behaviors.
Maven's advantages include: standardized project structure, unified build process, automated dependency management, rich plugin ecosystem, and central repository support. It reduces developer configuration work and improves development efficiency through the philosophy of convention over configuration. Maven also supports multi-module project builds, managing complex project structures through inheritance and aggregation mechanisms.
In practical applications, Maven is widely used for building, testing, packaging, and deploying Java projects. Developers can define project build behaviors by configuring the pom.xml file, and Maven will automatically execute corresponding build tasks based on the configuration. Maven also integrates seamlessly with continuous integration tools (such as Jenkins, GitLab CI), supporting automated build and deployment processes.