What does it mean to build a project?

Question

When it comes to programming what does it really mean to build a project?

From my experience it usually means to compile a program. But what if it is a project that doesn't need compilation like a Python program or Django web application?

Answer 1

Typically, building a project is not really about "building a project" at all. It is about "building items" that are considered to be the deliverables of the project.

In some circles the deliverables are also named "artifacts" or "build artifacts"; however, "to build a project" is really abbreviated speech for "to build the deliverables of a project from the sources".