I'm from the land of dinosaurs where I would write code, compile the
code, and then run the resulting file (executable). I guess that I'm
looking for the same scenario in Linux.

The problem that I tried to describe earlier was that when I wanted to
execute something in Linux that didn't run, it also didn't give me any
feedback. Nothing. So I didn't know if my single (or double) click
had even registered with the system. Even windows will pop up an
alert or something to say "hey stupid, you can't do that"...

Feedback -- guess that's what I'm looking for. No OS is complete
until it remembers the user.