diff --git a/playground/java/build.xml b/playground/java/build.xml
index 5e71b5d9a..dd40a21b9 100644
--- a/playground/java/build.xml
+++ b/playground/java/build.xml
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
 <project name="AnalysisTK" default="dist" basedir="." xmlns:ivy="antlib:org.apache.ivy.ant">
-    <description>
-        simple build file
-    </description>
+  <description>Compile and distribute the Sting analysis toolkit</description>
+
   <!-- set global properties for this build -->
   <property name="src" location="src"/>
   <property name="build" location="build"/>
   <property name="dist"  location="dist"/>
   <property name="lib"  location="lib"/>
 
+  <path id="classpath">
+    <fileset dir="${lib}" includes="*.jar" />
+  </path>
+
   <!-- ivy properties -->
   <property name="ivy.install.version" value="2.0.0" />
   <property name="ivy.home" value="${user.home}/.ant" />
@@ -16,15 +19,19 @@
   <property name="ivy.settings.dir" value="settings" />
   <property file="${ivy.settings.dir}/ivysettings.properties" />
 
-  <target name="resolve">
+  <target name="resolve" depends="init"
+          description="locate and download library dependencies">
+    <!-- retrieve ivy if necessary -->
     <mkdir dir="${ivy.jar.dir}" />
     <get src="http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/ivy/ivy/${ivy.install.version}/${ivy.jar.file}"
          dest="${ivy.jar.dir}/${ivy.jar.file}" 
          usetimestamp="true"/>
+    <!-- initialize and load ivy -->
     <taskdef resource="org/apache/ivy/ant/antlib.xml" 
              uri="antlib:org.apache.ivy.ant" 
              classpath="${ivy.jar.dir}/${ivy.jar.file}" />
     <ivy:settings file="${ivy.settings.dir}/ivysettings.xml" />
+    <!-- retrieve dependencies -->
     <ivy:retrieve />
   </target>
 
@@ -36,38 +43,19 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="compile" depends="init,resolve"
-        description="compile the source " >
+          description="compile the source">
     <!-- Compile the java code from ${src} into ${build} -->
-    <javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}" >
-      <classpath>
-        <fileset dir="lib">
-          <include name="*.jar" />
-        </fileset>
-      </classpath>
-    </javac>
+    <javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}" classpathref="classpath" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="dist" depends="compile"
-        description="generate the distribution" >
-    <!-- Create the distribution directory -->
+          description="generate the distribution" >
     <mkdir dir="${dist}"/>
 
-    <pathconvert property="jar.classpath" pathsep=" ">
-      <mapper>
-        <chainedmapper>
-          <flattenmapper />
-        </chainedmapper>
-      </mapper>
-      <path>
-        <fileset dir="${lib}">
-          <include name="**/*.jar" />
-        </fileset>
-      </path>
+    <pathconvert property="jar.classpath" pathsep=" " refid="classpath">
+      <flattenmapper />
     </pathconvert>
 
-    <echo message="libs.project = ${jar.classpath}" />
-
-    <!-- Put everything in ${build} into the MyProject-${DSTAMP}.jar file -->
     <jar jarfile="${dist}/AnalysisTK.jar" basedir="${build}">
       <manifest>
         <attribute name="Class-Path" value="${jar.classpath}" />
@@ -81,8 +69,7 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="clean"
-        description="clean up" >
-    <!-- Delete the ${build} and ${dist} directory trees -->
+          description="clean up" >
     <delete dir="${build}"/>
     <delete dir="${dist}"/>
     <delete dir="${lib}" />