先看一下Apache官网的解释：
Apache Maven is a software project management and comprehension tool. Based on the concept of a project object model (POM),
Maven can manage a project's build, reporting and documentation from a central piece of information.
翻译：Maven是基于项目对象模型(POM即Project Object Model)，可以通过一小段描述信息来管理项目的构建，报告和文档的软件项目管理工具。
通过上面这句话，我们可以了解到Maven不仅仅可以管理项目的构建，而且可以根据项目源码自动生成文档，以及报告。说句实话，对于我这种不太愿意写文档的人来说，实在是太方便了。
什么是Maven
Maven, a Yiddish word meaning accumulator of knowledge, was originally started as an attempt to simplify the build processes in the Jakarta Turbine project.
There were several projects each with their own Ant build files that were all slightly different and JARs were checked into CVS. We wanted a standard way to build the projects, a clear definition of what the project consisted of, an easy way to publish project information and a way to share JARs across several projects.
The result is a tool that can now be used for building and managing any Java-based project. We hope that we have created something that will make the day-to-day work of Java developers easier and generally help with the comprehension of any Java-based project.
翻译：
Maven这个单词来自于意第绪语，意为知识的积累，最早在Jakata Turbine项目中它开始被用来试图简化构建过程。当时有很多项目，它们的Ant build文件仅有细微的差别，而JAR文件都由CVS来维护。于是Maven创始者想要更加标准的方式构建项目，该项目的清晰定义包括：一种很方便的方式来发布项目信息，以及一种在多个项目中共享JAR的方式。
现在，Maven，成为了一种被用于构建和管理任何基于Java项目的工具。Maven创始者希望能够更多的让Java开发人员的日常工作更加容易，帮助理解任何基于Java项目。
maven的目标
Maven’s primary goal is to allow a developer to comprehend the complete state of a development effort in the shortest period of time. In order to attain this goal there are several areas of concern that Maven attempts to deal with:
1、Making the build process easy
2、Providing a uniform build system
3、Providing quality project information
4、Providing guidelines for best practices development
5、Allowing transparent migration to new features
翻译：
Maven的主要目标是为了使开发人员在最短的时间内领会项目的所有状态。为了达到这一目标，Maven考虑一下五个方面的内容：
1、使得构建过程更加容易，方便编译，打包，发布
2、为每个项目提供统一的配置
3、提供优质项目信息
4、最佳开发实践
5、安装和更新第三插件透明化
