The most immediately noticeable difference between Ant and make is that Ant uses XML to describe the build process and its dependencies, whereas make has its Makefile format. By default the XML file is named build.xml.
Ant is an Apache project. It is open source software, and is released under the Apache Software License.
The Spring Framework provides solutions to many technical challenges faced by Java developers and organizations wanting to create applications based on the Java platform. Because of the sheer vastness of the functionality that is offered it can be hard to distinguish the major building blocks the framework is composed of. The Spring Framework is not exclusively linked to the Java Enterprise platform although its far-reaching integration in this area is an important reason for its popularity.
The Spring Framework is probably best known for offering features required to effectively create complex business applications outside of the programming models that historically have been dominant in the industry. Next to that it is also credited for introducing previously unfamiliar functionalities into today's mainstream development practices, even beyond the Java platform.
This amounts to a framework that offers a consistent model and makes it applicable to most application types that are created on top of the Java platform today. The Spring Framework is considered to implement one way of working based on best practices and industry standards and making it available to many domains in Java.
Eclipse is an open-source, platform-independent software framework for delivering what the project calls "rich-client applications", as opposed to "thin client" browser-based applications. So far this framework has typically been used to develop Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), such as the Java IDE called Java Development Toolkit (JDT) and compiler (ECJ) that comes as part of Eclipse (and which are also used to develop Eclipse itself). However, it can be used for other types of client application as well, such as the BitTorrent client Azureus.
Eclipse is also a community of users, constantly extending the covered application areas. An example is the recently created Eclipse Modeling Project, covering most areas of Model Driven Engineering.
NetBeans refers to both a platform for the development of Java desktop applications, and an integrated development environment (IDE) developed using the NetBeans Platform.
The NetBeans Platform allows applications to be developed from a set of modular software components called modules. A module is a Java archive file that contains Java classes written to interact with the NetBeans Open APIs and a manifest file that identifies it as a module. Applications built on modules can be extended by adding new modules. Since modules can be developed independently, applications based on the NetBeans platform can be easily and powerfully extended by third party developers.
