The main difference between build and rebuild in Visual Studio is that the build helps to complete the code files that are changed, while rebuild deletes all previously compiled files and compiles the solution from scratch, ignoring anything done before.
Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. It provides the platform to develop desktop applications, websites, web apps, web services, mobile applications and many other devices. Additionally, Visual Studio code editor supports different programming languages such as C#, C++, Python, Visual Basic, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Furthermore, it provides features for auto code completion and code refactoring etc. In overall, build and rebuild are two features available in Visual Studio.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Build in Visual Studio
-Definition, Functionality
2. What is Rebuild in Visual Studio
-Definition, Functionality
3. Difference Between Build and Rebuild in Visual Studio
-Comparison of key differences
Key Terms
Build, IDE, Rebuild, Visual Studio
What is Build in Visual Studio
A programmer can write the program in the code editor. The next step is to compile that program. The programmer can click on the build option to accomplish this task. Then, the compiler will perform an incremental build. It compiles only the code files (DLL and .exe) that have changed. Therefore, unmodified files aren’t touched. Furthermore, it may also use partially built bits of the project if they haven’t changed.
What is Rebuild Visual Studio
In addition to build and rebuild, there is another option called clean. It is important to know more about this option before learning about the rebuild. The clean option clears all the compiled files (binary files) from the bin/obj directory. In other words, it removes the build artefacts from the previous build.
After cleaning, rebuild then builds the solution from scratch. It ignores anything done before. In other words, it deletes all the previous compiled files and compiles them again whether the code has modified or not. Furthermore, rebuild is similar to the combination of build and clean.
Difference Between Build and Rebuild in Visual Studio
Definition
A build is an option or a menu available in Visual Studio that is capable of performing an incremental build, whereas rebuild is an option or a menu in Visual Studio that cleans and builds the solution from scratch. Thus, this is the main difference between build and rebuild.
Exiting binary files
Importantly, while build does not clear any existing binary files, rebuild clears all the binary files from the bin/obj directory.
Usage
Furthermore, the programmer can use build to compile the solution. However, the programmer can use rebuild to remove the created compiled files and to compile the solution again. Hence, this is another difference between build and rebuild.
Conclusion
In brief, Visual Studio is an IDE of Microsoft that allows the programmers to build desktop, web and mobile applications. It helps to manage the code easily and also provides features to develop and deploy the application easily. Build and rebuild are two options available in Visual Studio. The main difference between build and rebuild in Visual Studio is that build helps to complete the code files which are changed while rebuild deletes all previously compiled files and compiles the solution from scratch ignoring anything done before.
References:
1.“Microsoft Visual Studio.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 June 2019, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1.” Logo of Visual Studio 2013 (vectorized)” By Cronoxyd – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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