A Minute of Understanding POM

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When you are going to build a project with Java and ended up choosing Maven, you will encounter POM. The pom.xml file.

If you want a sample of a that pom.xml file, go ahead.
Go to Spring Initializer site

Choose the defaults and make sure to select Maven Project.

demo
|_ HELP.md
|_ mvnw.xml
|_ mvnw.cmd
|_ pom.xml
|_ src

The pom.xml file will already contain a pre-configured structure, making it a great starting point for your exploration.

Breaking Down the pom.xml
There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to the pom.xml. Here’s a quick overview:

Project Information:
The <modelVersion>, <groupId>, <artifactId>, and <version> elements define the basic identity of your project.

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.example</groupId>
<artifactId>demo</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

Dependencies:
This section lists all external libraries your project requires. Maven handles downloading these libraries for you.

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
        <version>2.5.2</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Build Plugins:
Plugins extend Maven’s functionality, enabling you to perform tasks like creating JARs, running tests, or integrating with CI/CD pipelines.

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>11</source>
                <target>11</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Why Use Maven and pom.xml?
Dependency Management: Maven handles downloading and resolving dependencies, saving you from manual efforts.

Project Consistency: With pom.xml, your team can maintain a consistent configuration across multiple environments.
Ease of Use: Maven provides commands like mvn clean install that automatically handle builds, tests, and packaging.
Extensibility: Add plugins to extend functionality, like generating reports or deploying your app to a server.

What’s Next?
The pom.xml is much more than a configuration file. In upcoming sections, we’ll cover:

Customizing dependency scopes (e.g., compile, test, runtime).
Understanding Maven’s build lifecycle (e.g., phases like validate, compile, package).
Adding profiles for environment-specific configurations.
Writing multi-module projects with parent and child pom.xml files.
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