What does Maven provide when building a project?

Maven provides:

• Dependency management: Automatic downloading, resolution, and caching of libraries.
• Standardized project structure: The expected directory and file layout.
• Build lifecycle: Defined phases (compile, test, package, etc.) that can be executed.
• Plugin management: Extensibility through plugins for various tasks (unit testing, report generation, deployment, etc.).
• Profile management: Ability to adapt the build for different environments (development, testing, production).
• Report generation: Coverage reports, static analysis, and other metrics.
• Centralized artifact repository: Built-in repository (.m2) and the ability to work with remote repositories (Maven Central, private Nexus/Artifactory).

Default project structure:

src/
├── main/
│   ├── java/      // Java source files
│   ├── resources/ // Application resources
│   └── webapp/    // Web application sources (for war)
└── test/
    ├── java/      // Test source files
    └── resources/ // Test resources

Example plugin:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>3.8.1</version>
    <configuration>
        <source>1.8</source>
        <target>1.8</target>
    </configuration>
</plugin>