An airhacks.fm conversation with Erik C. Thauvin (@ethauvin) about:

previously Erik on "#287 How Linkblog Happened",

from Rife to bld,

Gert on "#284 No Dependencies--Or How Rife 2 and Bld Happened",

the simplicity and power of bld compared to Gradle and Maven,

using Java as the build language without any DSLs or plugins,

the advantages of a direct approach to building and running tools,

converting projects from Gradle to bld and the resulting simplification,

creating extensions for bld to integrate with various tools and libraries,

the benefits of using pure Java for build files and the flexibility it provides,

the speed of bld and the underlying Java compilers,

ideas for future improvements and features in bld,

the philosophy behind bld and its focus on simplicity and developer productivity,

the potential for using bld as a scripting tool and automation platform,

the extension mechanism in bld and how it leverages the builder pattern,

the performance gains of using bld over traditional build tools,

the aesthetics and user experience of bld,

the history of Java compilers and the evolution of Java desktop applications