Maven and Java really don’t get enough credit for how well it’s dependency management works.
So many inferior dependency management systems for other languages have come along later, and learned nothing from those that came before it.
So many inferior dependency management systems for other languages have come along later, and learned nothing from those that came before it.
Maven files have a simple conventional structure and a defined schema. Once you learn it, it's a breeze to work with. It's not like you need to write hundreds of lines of SOAP or XLST — which is actually why people started to dislike XML, and not because XML inherently bad.
Edit: I'd also take XML over TOML any day, especially when it comes to nested objects and arrays.
The inverse-style domain name thing does a really good job of removing the whole issue of squatting from the ecosystem. You have to demonstrate some level of commitment and identity through control of a domain name in order to publish.
I would also say that this puts just enough friction so that people don't publish dogshit.
crates.io demonstrates quite clearly that you either have to go all the way and take responsibility for curation or you have to get completely out of the way. There is no inbetween.
It took some iterations before maven 3 became "good", so people forget that it wasn't as nice before now! Unfortunately, it seems that the lessons learned there is never really disseminated to other ecosystems - perhaps due to prejudice against "enterprisey" java. Yet, these package managers are now facing the sorts of problems solved in java.
Whats the diff between changing lib version in xml and json?