[3] Gradle uses a directed acyclic graph to determine the order in which tasks can be run, through providing dependency management.

It operates based on a series of build tasks that can run serially or in parallel.

[6] Gradle offers support for all phases of a build process including compilation, verification, dependency resolving, test execution, source code generation, packaging and publishing.

Conventions include the folder structure of the project, standard tasks and their order as well as dependency repositories.

Gradle is available as a separate download, but can also be found bundled in products such as Android Studio.