Programming Definitions: What exactly is 'Building'.

build build-process build-automation definition
contactmatt picture contactmatt · Oct 26, 2009 · Viewed 23.1k times · Source

What does it mean to build a solution/project/program? I want to make sure I have my definitions correct (so I don't sound like a idiot when conversing). In IDE's, you can (correct me if I'm wrong) compile source-code/programming-code into computer-readable machine code. You can debug a program, which is basically stepping through the program and looking for errors.

But what exactly does building a program do? In VS I'm aware that when you build a program it produces an executable file in a debug folder.

Any hard-core tech definitions of what it means to build a program?

Answer

Greg Mattes picture Greg Mattes · Oct 26, 2009

Building means many things to many people, but in general it means starting with source files produced by developers and ending with things like installation packages that are ready for deployment.

"The build" can contain many things:

  • Compilation of source files (for languages/environments that support a separate/explicit compilation step)
  • Linking of object code (for languages/environments that support a separate/explicit linking step)
  • Production of distribution packages, also called "installers"
  • Generation of documentation that is embedded within the source code files, e.g. Doxygen, Javadoc
  • Execution of automated tests like unit tests, static analysis tests, and performance tests
  • Generation of reports that tell the development team how many warnings and errors occurred during the build
  • Deployment of distribution packages. For example, the build could automatically deploy/publish a new version of a web application (assuming that the build is successful).

"The build" can be done "by hand" or it can be automated, or some hybrid of the two. A manual build is a build that requires build commands like compilers to be executed one by one. An automated build packages together all of the individual build tools into a large build program that can be (ideally) run in a single step.

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