Social Source Commons

Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code.

According to Ant's original author, James Duncan Davidson, the name is an acronym for "Another Neat Tool".

Later explanations go along the lines of "ants do an extremely good job at building things", or "ants are very small and can carry a weight dozens of times their own" - describing what Ant is intended to be.

Building cross platform apps (like the VaultletSuite 2 Go) with Java requires an easy to use automation tool. Ant fits the bill for me!