I recently installed Suse8.2, and I am making slow progress. I installed the C++ compiler and tried to use it but no joy. I found a C++ icon in /usr/bin/ . It's a pointer to a file.
I tried to run C++ from the Konsole using the following usr/bin/c++.
No joy, there seem to be something missing, or am I in the boonies.
Any of you GURUS would have a thought on the matter.
Is this C++ package a true c++ with it"s own UI like Visual C++ or any of the other programming languages.

Thank you.

You must have gcc installed on your computer before you can program on your GNU/Linux(not a joke including c/c++/java/fortran and lots others) system.
try command
$gcc --version

if you get any output then it means gcc is installed on your system and you can very well program on your system...so write a program and compile using the command..

$g++ -o <prgram> <program.cpp>

i will suggest you some excellent documents on programming on GNU/Linux ...check out..
1.http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/C/CE.html (for c)
2.http://www.strath.ac.uk/IT/Docs/Ccourse
or else check out this link for c++
http://www.functionx.com/cpp/index.htm(they have included a guide for programming on almost any platform)..
Now let us turn to ugly question if you don't have gcc installed what to do???!!!
I have never used suse and i don't recommend anyone to use it...(A blot on entire GNU/Linux community this version is...)..but still i guess they must have gcc included in thier installation cdz..so if u have cdz then you need not to download gcc just check out CDz and install gcc from there...
and that's it.....

Thanks for the reply. Yes I do have GCC installed, I also have GCC++ which is the C++ compiler.
I might have a wrong assumption here. Does the GNU/Linux C++ interface have a user interface that looks like Microsoft Visual C++ or do you write the code on a text type interface like the KONSOLE in Suse.
I might be lookig for something that ain't there in the first place.

Is C++ in Linux a standalone application with it"s own U.I.?

well GNU/Linux have Kdevelop that can satisfy your apetite for a IDE(or a graphical user interface like Visual c++)..
So in GNU/Linux you can program in both way either write your program using a text editor(emacs,vi,gedit) and compile the code from command line using gcc.or else you can use kdevelop that gives a sort of IDE..is good....
you should check out this link it gives a sort introduction about how to compile using kdevelop....

http://www.functionx.com/cpp/index.htm

if you are interested in writing applications that are GUI then QT is a better way to go....