Java build scripts to build Java?

Dr. Dobb's Java Blog had a post about a Java-based approach to Ant build scripts. The author suggests that writing Ant scripts in XML is too challenging and complicated since XML isn't really a programming language, but the example in the post of the Java programmed scripts seems much, much harder to read.

Personally, I like the declarative nature of XML Ant scripts, and writing build scripts in Java seems over-engineered. However, I am open to alternatives to using XML for scripting, and a true scripting language may be better suited.

One of the comments mentions using Groovy for build scripts, which seems interesting, and needs more investigation.