What is the difference between build and deploy?

Question

Solution Explorer -> Solution'name' -> Properties -> Configuration Properties -> Configuration Manager...

I supposed that it has something to do with web/server aplications, but it also co-occurs with solutions to the pure desktop projects. So now I'm totally confused.

Answer 1

Build means to compile the project.

Deploy means to:

1. Compile the project
2. Publish the output, meaning copy it to a target directory, upload it to an FTP server or to an instance of IIS, etc (depending on the configuration).

You can test out "deploy" by right-clicking on a project in Visual Studio and then "Publish".

Answer 2

In most cases build means to compile all your source code to produce object files or executables or libraries.

Deploy can do more than that.Deploy usually compile first,then upload the file to somewhere the program actually runs and config the program to a defined state for on board running/testing.

If you only work with a pure desktop program. It is probably that your compile environment and running environment is the same one thus no more works need to do than build.