There are many build tools we can use to compile and build Scala or Scalding applications. They provide support for mixed Java/Scala projects, dependency management and useful plugins.

We can use Simple Build Tool (sbt) that allows incremental compilation and is itself implemented in Scala, or Maven, which is popular among developers, is mature, and provides a large range of plugins.

There are other build tools, such as Gradle and buildr, that support Scala, but in this book, we will use Maven and a number of plugins for project dependencies and assembly descriptors due to its high compatibility with continuous integration systems and most developers being familiar with this tool.