Talk:Build system (software development)

Feedback from New Page Review process

I left the following feedback for the creator/future reviewers while reviewing this article: Should be merged with Build automation or Integrated development environment.

Noleander (talk) 18:08, 2 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article overlaps a LOT with other existing articles, such as Integrated development environment and Build automation. Readers do not benefit from such duplication & overlap. Although arguments can be made to distinguish this article from the other two: the SOURCES do not make such distinctions, and we need to do what is best for readers. Noleander (talk) 18:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that "Build system (software development)" should be merged into Build automation. As far as I can tell, they are so closely related that a single article can cover both and the subtle difference (if any) between them.

However, I feel that Integrated development environment (IDE) should stay separate. My understanding is that an IDE bundles together many different tools, including a text editor and a debugger and (sometimes) a build system like make (software) or Gradle. The text editor and the debugger is designed for a human to interactively work with at every step. The build system is intended to be set up once and then, when activated, automatically go through a series of actions without further human interaction. The IDE can be seen as analogous to a kitchen that contains many tools. Some of those tools (the measuring cups and mixing spoon) require a lot of human interaction to do their thing. The oven, like a build system, once it's been set up, can do its thing more-or-less automatically. Many kitchens don't have an oven, like IDEs focused on interpreted languages usually don't include a build system. Many ovens are not in a kitchen, like historically the make tool was popular long before IDEs became popular. --DavidCary (talk) 18:07, 11 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]