What is build automation software (for example, Ant)?

Question

I see reference of ant a lot but I don\'t get exactly what its meant to do? from what i\'ve heard its supposed to compile your projects but can\'t i just do that by clicking Run

Answer 1

Ant allows CRISP (complete, repeatable, informative, schedulable, portable) builds. You can find great info on it in this presentation by Mike Clark and in his book, Pragmatic Project Automation.