Jenkins supports building Java projects since its inception, and for a reason! It’s both the language Jenkins is written in, plus the language in use by many if not all the projects Kohsuke Kawaguchi wanted to watch out when he created the tool many years ago.
If you want to build a Java project, there are a bunch of different options. The most typical ones nowadays are generally Apache Maven, or Gradle.
Apache Maven
In any FreeStyle job, as currently Maven is supported in standard, you can use the dedicated step. One advantage is, as for all Jenkins tools, that you can select a specific Maven version and have Jenkins automatically install it on the build node it’s going to run on.
Gradle
As the associated plugin is not installed by default, first install the Gradle plugin. Once done, you should be able to add a Gradle step.
Java plugins for Jenkins
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JUnit plugin
publishes JUnit XML formatted test reports for trending and analysis
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Gradle plugin
support invoking Gradle as a build step and listing executing tasks per build
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Warnings Next Generation plugin
collects compiler warnings and issues from static analysis tools such as SpotBugs and PMD
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Cobertura plugin
publish and trend code coverage reports from Cobertura
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SonarQube plugin
integrate reporting from the SonarQube code quality/inspection platform
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Repository Connector plugin
adds features for resolving artifacts from a Maven repository such as Nexus or Artifactory.