<s>
sbt	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
build	B-Application
tool	I-Application
for	O
Scala	B-Application
and	O
Java	B-Language
projects	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
Apache	O
's	O
Maven	B-Language
and	O
Gradle	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
sbt	B-Language
is	O
the	O
de	O
facto	O
build	B-Application
tool	I-Application
in	O
the	O
Scala	B-Application
community	O
,	O
used	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
by	O
Play	B-Language
Framework	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Lightbend	O
Inc.	O
,	O
which	O
managed	O
sbt	B-Language
development	O
in	O
past	O
years	O
,	O
has	O
called	O
sbt	B-Language
"	O
arguably	O
the	O
best	O
tool	O
for	O
building	O
Scala	B-Application
projects	O
"	O
,	O
saying	O
that	O
its	O
two	O
most	O
prominent	O
features	O
are	O
incremental	B-Application
compilation	I-Application
and	O
an	O
interactive	O
shell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
continuous	O
compilation	B-Language
mode	O
,	O
the	O
Scala	B-Application
compiler	B-Language
is	O
instantiated	O
only	O
once	O
,	O
which	O
eliminates	O
subsequent	O
startup	O
costs	O
;	O
source	O
file	O
changes	O
are	O
tracked	O
so	O
that	O
only	O
affected	O
dependencies	O
are	O
recompiled	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
interactive	O
console	O
allows	O
modifying	O
build	O
settings	O
on	O
the	O
fly	O
and	O
entering	O
the	O
Scala	B-Application
REPL	B-Application
along	O
with	O
all	O
class	O
files	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
popularity	O
of	O
the	O
incremental	B-Application
compilation	I-Application
prompted	O
Lightbend	O
to	O
extract	O
this	O
feature	O
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
an	O
independent	O
component	O
called	O
Zinc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mark	O
Harrah	O
publicly	O
announced	O
sbt	B-Language
on	O
18	O
December	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
initially	O
an	O
abbreviation	O
that	O
stood	O
for	O
"	O
Simple	B-Language
Build	I-Language
Tool	I-Language
"	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
is	O
now	O
known	O
simply	O
as	O
"	O
sbt	B-Language
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
sbt	B-Language
build	O
can	O
be	O
defined	O
using	O
a	O
.sbt	O
file	O
Below	O
is	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
build.sbt	O
build	O
definition	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
sbt	B-Language
may	O
be	O
invoked	O
for	O
each	O
build	O
command	O
,	O
or	O
it	O
may	O
enter	O
interactive	O
mode	O
if	O
no	O
command	O
is	O
given	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
functionality	O
of	O
sbt	B-Language
can	O
be	O
extended	O
through	O
a	O
plugin	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
plugins	O
to	O
automatically	O
create	O
project	O
files	O
for	O
the	O
Eclipse	B-Application
and	O
IntelliJ	B-Language
IDEA	I-Language
IDEs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
an	O
IntelliJ	B-Language
IDEA	I-Language
plugin	O
allows	O
the	O
sbt	B-Language
console	O
to	O
be	O
integrated	O
into	O
IDEA	O
,	O
and	O
projects	O
can	O
choose	O
to	O
use	O
sbt	B-Language
for	O
building	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
with	O
most	O
software	O
tools	O
,	O
sbt	B-Language
has	O
found	O
advocates	O
and	O
critics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
sbt	B-Language
is	O
often	O
compared	O
to	O
Apache	B-Language
Maven	I-Language
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
standard	O
build	B-Application
tool	I-Application
in	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
particular	O
,	O
the	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
used	O
for	O
sbt	B-Language
build	O
files	O
is	O
considered	O
by	O
some	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
cryptic	O
than	O
the	O
pure	O
declarative	B-Language
approach	O
of	O
Maven	B-Language
's	O
XML	B-Protocol
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
Some	O
of	O
this	O
criticism	O
may	O
predate	O
sbt	B-Language
's	O
introduction	O
of	O
a	O
more	O
direct	O
,	O
macro-based	O
syntax	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
sbt	B-Language
project	O
is	O
"	O
bootstrapped	O
"	O
—	O
it	O
uses	O
sbt	B-Language
to	O
build	O
itself	O
,	O
as	O
many	O
compilers	B-Language
also	O
do	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
considers	O
that	O
dogfooding	O
is	O
a	O
positive	O
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
the	O
Debian	O
project	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
that	O
is	O
considered	O
a	O
circular	B-Language
dependency	I-Language
,	O
that	O
they	O
try	O
to	O
minimize	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
sbt	B-Language
is	O
not	O
yet	O
in	O
Debian	O
.	O
</s>
