Firefox install and coding

[Stoodle]

I know that this isn't completely dedicated to programming talk but some of it is.

First, due to problems I had after upgrading to 8.04, I'm just going to stick with Gutsy for a bit. However, I'd like to upgrade firefox to version 3. When I download it from the site, I get a complete folder for firefox but really I'd like to just click update or something. What should I do?

Second, I'd like to try my hand up coding for open-source software. Maybe if I added to stuff I have, I could improve my coding. I'm very much a noob. Specifically, I'd like to make a plugin to pidgin and maybe edit the source code I have. Where can I find the source code? Any tips for making a plugin and adding it? The text box is too small (where I type) so maybe I don't need to edit the source code if you can help me out. However, I do want to make a plugin. I want to make the window popup whenever I get a message or scroll up like gtalk does. I don't even know where to begin because I'm still not that great at Java and I'm learning C++. However, it sounds like fun to do.

Thanks!

EDIT:
I don't want to download eclipse so I was wondering if someone could tell me how I compile and link multiple files together. I want to do it in Geany or compile things in commandline. How do I compile Java and C++ in commandline?

[azzamite]

As far as I know, you should be able to update firefox alone using synaptic and also, firefox can update itself...

If you're learning to program, I subjest you tu decide on one languaje at a time and read the stiky post of this subforum.

You ususually can donwload the source of a program directly from it's page, modify it as you like and compile with "./configure && make".

You should find info to create a plugin in the project's page.

You can compile from the console like this.
gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld
g++ helloworld.cpp -o helloworld
javac helloworld.java

[Stoodle]

Well, I've been learning Java for two years at school. I'm learning C++ because I have to learn it next year along with VB so I wanted to be able to practice C++ in Linux because Windows has been buggy. I want to keep working in Java a bit, so I wanted to learn to compile it here. However, I don't know how to compile and link multiple source files.

As far as firefox, the check box is grayed out in the updates tab. can't figure out how to choose firefox 3 to upgrade to. It's pretty weird.