In professional software development, it's essential to be able to reliably build a working system on demand. Rather than waste our time performing these builds, with the possibility of missing a step or making some other mistake, it's better to automate the process with a build script. Some of the things that can be used:
- Shell script or batch file
- Make
BuildingWithAnt (Java), NantCheatSheet (.NET)
- Maven
Whatever the tool you use, it should be possible to kick off a build and have it performed the same way each time. For extra credit, it should offer the ability to have different targets (or outcomes), and to be able to do some steps conditionally depending on need.
Going further, you can add targets that start with a checkout from your VersionControl system and automatically notifies people of the current build state. One step further, and you've got a ContinuousIntegration server.