Ant is a build tool that is java based. A build tool performs the following tasks:

Compiling java code into byte code

Placing this byte code in a package

Deployment to production systems

Document creation and release notes preparation.

Capabilities of ANT:

ANT tool is extended by using java classes. The configuration files are XML-based. Each task of building directory tree is executed by using the object that implements the Task interface.

ANT provides the cross-platform deployment that can run on any platform.