Why do maven projects have a src folder which has two empty sub-folders (main and test)

Question

I am new to the java world. I created a simple java (maven) project and I see the packages and everything works perfectly. However I do see a src with two empty main and test folders. Any idea why?

EDIT: Adding more information to the answer The answer below is perfect. However on tinkering a little more I found a more compelling reason why it is shown like that in eclipse.

If the folder is in "Java build path" then those folders will be shown above in the specialized view. So you can create any folder and once you add that folder to the "Java build path" the view for that folder changes. Same if you remove an existing folder from the "Java build path" then it seems to go back as a normal tree view in the bottom.

Answer 1

Folder are not empty. Look where your App.java is: src/main/java/com/nuance/spring

Eclipse hide you content on this place because that are special folders with special view above.

If you have other folders that aren't special, for example WEB-INF then you'll see it there.

Answer 2

they actually aren't empty if you look at the directory out side of your editor (looks like eclipse). eclipse has created source folders for you which can be seen above. src/main/java and src/test/java.

so if you take a look at the folder in your operating systems explorer you should see files in there