The answer to this question depends on your own perspective. The great majority of Maven users are
going to call Maven a “build tool”: a tool used to build deployable artifacts from source code. Build
engineers and project managers might refer to Maven as something more comprehensive: a project
management tool. What is the difference? A build tool such as Ant is focused solely on preprocessing,
compilation, packaging, testing, and distribution. A project management tool such as Maven provides
a superset of features found in a build tool. In addition to providing build capabilities, Maven can also
run reports, generate a web site, and facilitate communication among members of a working team.
A more formal definition of Apache Maven1: Maven is a project management tool which encompasses
a project object model, a set of standards, a project lifecycle, a dependency management system, and
logic for executing plugin goals at defined phases in a lifecycle. When you use Maven, you describe
your project using a well-defined project object model, Maven can then apply cross-cutting logic from
a set of shared (or custom) plugins.
Don't let the fact that Maven is a "project management" tool scare you away. If you were just looking
for a build tool, Maven will do the job. In fact, the first few chapters of this book will deal with the most
common use case: using Maven to build and distribute your project.