- Build automation is essentially automating how the software is built instead of manually invoking the compiler. This would be accomplished via tools such as Makefiles or Ant.
- Deployment automation is less well-define but involves taking your built software and “deploying” or “installing” it on a test or production system.
- Continuous integration means having an automated process build your software continuously as developers check in code. For example, every 15 to 30 minutes a server might wake up, look for new check-ins, and build the project if any changes were made.
- Continuous delivery is a combination of CI and DA where the software builds from CI are also deployed to a test system.