> they really haven't learned the (very simple) lifecycle Building is a simple concept: dependency DAG + inputs -> artifacts. The "->" here can involve arbitra

> they really haven't learned the (very simple) lifecycle Building is a simple concept: dependency DAG + inputs -> artifacts. The "->" here can involve arbitrary intermediate artifacts and steps. Maven ignores this fundamental concept of building. Rather than treat interim dependencies as part of the DAG, there's a hard-coded recipe of lifecycle steps. This is why I personally cringe at maven - it has nothing to do with the fact that it's declarative (virtually every build system is largely declarative). It has everything to do with hard-coding one particular set of build steps into a supposedly general build tool.