What is the role of Apache Maven in the build process and dependency management?

Apache Maven is a build automation tool for projects that also manages dependencies. Its role is to standardize the build process, manage the project lifecycle, and automatically download necessary libraries and plugins from central repositories.

Main functions of Maven:

• Describing the project and its dependencies in a single file (pom.xml).
• Automatic downloading and updating of libraries.
• Managing the build process (compilation, testing, packaging).
• Support for plugins to extend functionality.

Example of pom.xml for dependency inclusion:

<project>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.example</groupId>
  <artifactId>my-app</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
      <version>5.3.9</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

Thus, Maven simplifies project management, makes builds reproducible, and facilitates working with external libraries.