从版本5.6.3开始，Gradle文档提供了简单的经验规则来识别旧的编译依赖项(或新的依赖项)是否应该用一个实现或api依赖项替换:

Prefer the implementation configuration over api when possible This keeps the dependencies off of the consumer’s compilation classpath. In addition, the consumers will immediately fail to compile if any implementation types accidentally leak into the public API. So when should you use the api configuration? An API dependency is one that contains at least one type that is exposed in the library binary interface, often referred to as its ABI (Application Binary Interface). This includes, but is not limited to: types used in super classes or interfaces types used in public method parameters, including generic parameter types (where public is something that is visible to compilers. I.e. , public, protected and package private members in the Java world) types used in public fields public annotation types By contrast, any type that is used in the following list is irrelevant to the ABI, and therefore should be declared as an implementation dependency: types exclusively used in method bodies types exclusively used in private members types exclusively found in internal classes (future versions of Gradle will let you declare which packages belong to the public API)

这个答案将演示项目中的实现、api和编译之间的区别。

---

假设我有一个有三个Gradle模块的项目:

app (Android应用程序) myandroidlibrary(一个Android库) myjavalibrary(一个Java库)

应用程序有myandroidlibrary作为依赖项。Myandroidlibrary有myjavlibrary作为依赖项。

myjavlibrary有一个MySecret类

public class MySecret {

    public static String getSecret() {
        return "Money";
    }
}

myandroidlibrary中有MyAndroidComponent类，用于操作MySecret类的值。

public class MyAndroidComponent {

    private static String component = MySecret.getSecret();

    public static String getComponent() {
        return "My component: " + component;
    }    
}

最后，app只对myandroidlibrary的值感兴趣

TextView tvHelloWorld = findViewById(R.id.tv_hello_world);
tvHelloWorld.setText(MyAndroidComponent.getComponent());

---

现在，让我们谈谈依赖关系……

应用需要消耗:myandroidlibrary，所以在应用构建中。Gradle使用实现。

(注意:你也可以使用api/compile。但请稍等片刻。)

dependencies {
    implementation project(':myandroidlibrary')      
}

你认为myandroidlibrary构建了什么?Gradle应该是什么样子?我们应该使用哪个作用域?

我们有三个选择:

dependencies {
    // Option #1
    implementation project(':myjavalibrary') 
    // Option #2
    compile project(':myjavalibrary')      
    // Option #3
    api project(':myjavalibrary')           
}

它们之间的区别是什么，我应该用什么?

编译或Api(选项#2或#3)

如果你使用的是编译器或者api。我们的Android应用现在可以访问myandroidcomponent依赖，这是一个MySecret类。

TextView textView = findViewById(R.id.text_view);
textView.setText(MyAndroidComponent.getComponent());
// You can access MySecret
textView.setText(MySecret.getSecret());

实现(选项#1)

如果您正在使用实现配置，MySecret将不会公开。

TextView textView = findViewById(R.id.text_view);
textView.setText(MyAndroidComponent.getComponent());
// You can NOT access MySecret
textView.setText(MySecret.getSecret()); // Won't even compile

---

那么，应该选择哪种配置呢?那要看你的要求了。

如果你想公开依赖关系，请使用api或compile。

如果你不想公开依赖关系(隐藏你的内部模块)，那么使用实现。

注意:

这只是Gradle配置的一个要点，参见表49.1。Java库插件-用于声明依赖关系的配置，以获得更详细的解释。

这个答案的示例项目可以在https://github.com/aldoKelvianto/ImplementationVsCompile上找到

简单的解决方案:

更好的方法是用实现依赖替换所有编译依赖。只有在泄露模块接口时，才应该使用api。这应该会减少大量的重新编译。

 dependencies {
         implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
 
         implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.4.0'
         implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
         // …
 
         testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
         androidTestImplementation('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
             exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
         })
 }

---

解释:

在Android Gradle插件3.0之前:我们遇到了一个大问题，即一个代码更改导致所有模块被重新编译。造成这种情况的根本原因是Gradle不知道你是否通过另一个模块泄露了一个模块的接口。

在Android Gradle插件3.0之后:最新的Android Gradle插件现在要求你显式定义是否泄露了模块的接口。在此基础上，它可以对应该重新编译的内容做出正确的选择。

因此，compile依赖项已被弃用，并被两个新的依赖项所取代:

Api:你通过你自己的接口泄露了这个模块的接口，这意味着和旧的编译依赖完全一样 实现:你只在内部使用这个模块，不会通过你的接口泄露它

所以现在你可以显式地告诉Gradle重新编译一个模块，如果使用的模块的接口改变与否。

由Jeroen Mols博客提供

+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Name               | Role                 | Consumable? | Resolveable? | Description                             |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| api                | Declaring            |      no     |      no      | This is where you should declare        |
|                    | API                  |             |              | dependencies which are transitively     |
|                    | dependencies         |             |              | exported to consumers, for compile.     |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| implementation     | Declaring            |      no     |      no      | This is where you should                |
|                    | implementation       |             |              | declare dependencies which are          |
|                    | dependencies         |             |              | purely internal and not                 |
|                    |                      |             |              | meant to be exposed to consumers.       |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| compileOnly        | Declaring compile    |     yes     |      yes     | This is where you should                |
|                    | only                 |             |              | declare dependencies                    |
|                    | dependencies         |             |              | which are only required                 |
|                    |                      |             |              | at compile time, but should             |
|                    |                      |             |              | not leak into the runtime.              |
|                    |                      |             |              | This typically includes dependencies    |
|                    |                      |             |              | which are shaded when found at runtime. |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| runtimeOnly        | Declaring            |      no     |      no      | This is where you should                |
|                    | runtime              |             |              | declare dependencies which              |
|                    | dependencies         |             |              | are only required at runtime,           |
|                    |                      |             |              | and not at compile time.                |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| testImplementation | Test dependencies    |      no     |      no      | This is where you                       |
|                    |                      |             |              | should declare dependencies             |
|                    |                      |             |              | which are used to compile tests.        |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| testCompileOnly    | Declaring test       |     yes     |      yes     | This is where you should                |
|                    | compile only         |             |              | declare dependencies                    |
|                    | dependencies         |             |              | which are only required                 |
|                    |                      |             |              | at test compile time,                   |
|                    |                      |             |              | but should not leak into the runtime.   |
|                    |                      |             |              | This typically includes dependencies    |
|                    |                      |             |              | which are shaded when found at runtime. |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+
| testRuntimeOnly    | Declaring test       |      no     |      no      | This is where you should                |
|                    | runtime dependencies |             |              | declare dependencies which              |
|                    |                      |             |              | are only required at test               |
|                    |                      |             |              | runtime, and not at test compile time.  |
+--------------------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+-----------------------------------------+

编译配置已弃用，应由实现或api取代。

你可以在API和实现分离部分阅读文档。

简短的部分是

The key difference between the standard Java plugin and the Java Library plugin is that the latter introduces the concept of an API exposed to consumers. A library is a Java component meant to be consumed by other components. It's a very common use case in multi-project builds, but also as soon as you have external dependencies. The plugin exposes two configurations that can be used to declare dependencies: api and implementation. The api configuration should be used to declare dependencies which are exported by the library API, whereas the implementation configuration should be used to declare dependencies which are internal to the component.

进一步的解释请参考这张图片。

门外汉术语的简单区别是:

如果你正在处理一个接口或模块，它通过公开所声明的依赖关系的成员来为其他模块提供支持，你应该使用'api'。 如果你正在创建一个应用程序或模块，要在内部实现或使用声明的依赖项，请使用'implementation'。 'compile'与'api'工作方式相同，但是，如果你只是实现或使用任何库，'implementation'将更好地工作并节省资源。

阅读@aldok的回答以获得一个全面的示例。