What is "gradle"

Gradle is an advanced automation system for builds and dependency manager. The files of build gradle are scripts written in the Groovy language, unlike Ant and Maven build formats that use XML files for configuration. Because it is based on scripts, Gradle files allow you to perform tasks in your configuration file.

To latest version do Gradle is version 3.2.1, released on November 22, 2016.

Everything in Gradle boils down to two basic concepts:

• Projects: All build Gradle’s is made of one or more Projects, the representation of project will depend on how you use Gradle. For example, we may have a project representing a .jar or even a web application. A project does not necessarily represent things that will be built, it can also represent things that will be made, such as the deploy of its application for approval or production environments.

• Tasks: Each project is made of one or more tasks, one task represents a piece of work that a build will run. We can have for example tasks compiling classes, creating .jar's and even publishing files to a specific repository.

Prerequisites:

Version 6 or higher of JAVA JDK (or JRE)

Documentation:

• User’s Guide - detailed chapters on the fundamentals of Gradle and specific topics
• DSL reference - a reference guide to the Gradle compile language (for daily Gradle use)
• API reference - Javadoc for Gradle API (for plug-in developers and advanced users)

Link to official page: Link