No, I don't mean that visual c++ creates reusable code, such as header files or functions.

When you use visual c++, to debug code you have to "build" the code first and this creates and executable in the Debug folder. In addition to the build option the user of this IDE also has the option the compile the code to create and executable.

Therefore my question is, when using visual c++, what does the compile operation do that the build operation does not?