While installing the open-source software like Mahout, I read some notes like
Convert Maven project of Mahout into Eclipse project
What does this mean? What's the difference between a Maven project and Eclipse project?
Install Maven if you haven't already done it.
Enter the command prompt or a shell and navigate to the directory where the Mahout is located (there's a pom.xml file). Type the command:
mvn eclipse:eclipse
which will create project files for Eclipse and open the project in Eclipse.
No conversion is needed. Eclipse supports Maven projects, and vice-versa.
Difference between these two projects yield from the difference of the tools. Eclipse is an IDE and Maven is a build tool. In fact, IDE is a superset of a build tool. That's why Eclipse may use Maven for building. Common properties between the projects relate to how the build is being done and Eclipse has a set of properties aimed to persist the state between programming sessions.