I'm trying to find out if I have an internal language problem that makes programming my computer impossible

The internal language problem flasher said something about an executable pathway problem. Later I tried to open a zipfile and the operation failed

Are you using Xubuntu 12.04 operating system?

I don't think it's Xubuntu, I think it's just Ubuntu 12.04 Unity.

I tried compiling a C program in the terminal by typing gcc hello.c which was the name of the file and I got no such file or directory

When you want to tell us that you received an error message, please be as exact as possible.
Ideally you would provide the command that you entered and the full response that you get from the system - preferably by copy/paste and not by retyping.

If you get an error message like "file not found" on the command "gcc hello.c" you most probably have either mistyped the name of the file (Ubuntu is case sensitive, so there is a difference between hello.c hello.C Hello.c and Hello.C) or you were not located in the right directory when providing that command in the terminal.

Ubuntu has file name expansion. That means that for most commands you can just type in the first letters of the command and then hit the tab key to complete typing of the command (if the first letters are already unique for a command, or hit tab two times to get a listing of possible choices); and you can use the tab key for file name expansion (again type in the first letters and then hit the tab key for completion of the file name, or twice the tab key for possible selections).

I'm answering this through my e-mail rather than the Software Centre, so
I'm not sure where it will go, but anyway thanks, Manfred, for your answer.

I typed "gcc hello. c case sensitively and still got "file not found". You
said that I might not be located in the right directory. Do I have to give
the terminal more information other than the file name to help it locate
the file?

On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 4:56 AM, Manfred Hampl <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #244448 on software-center in Ubuntu changed:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-center/+question/244448
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Manfred Hampl proposed the following answer:
> When you want to tell us that you received an error message, please be as
> exact as possible.
> Ideally you would provide the command that you entered and the full
> response that you get from the system - preferably by copy/paste and not by
> retyping.
>
> If you get an error message like "file not found" on the command "gcc
> hello.c" you most probably have either mistyped the name of the file
> (Ubuntu is case sensitive, so there is a difference between hello.c
> hello.C Hello.c and Hello.C) or you were not located in the right
> directory when providing that command in the terminal.
>
> Ubuntu has file name expansion. That means that for most commands you
> can just type in the first letters of the command and then hit the tab
> key to complete typing of the command (if the first letters are already
> unique for a command, or hit tab two times to get a listing of possible
> choices); and you can use the tab key for file name expansion (again
> type in the first letters and then hit the tab key for completion of the
> file name, or twice the tab key for possible selections).
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-center/+question/244448/+confirm?answer_id=4
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-center/+question/244448
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

In which directory did you put the hello.c source code file? Your home directory or some other directory?

Try the following:
open a treminal (e.g. by simultaneously pressing ctrl-alt-t)
and issue the commands

sudo updatedb
locate hello.c
uname -a
lsb_release -a

The first command will ask for your password. Type it in, but note that you will not get any feedback, no echo, not even '*' placeholders).
Finally select all output (using the terminal window's menu entry "edit - select all"), copy it ("edit - copy") and paste everything into this question document taht we can see the result.

Archive: /home/jonathan/Downloads/iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe
[/home/jonathan/Downloads/iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe]
  End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
  a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
  latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
  the last disk(s) of this archive.
zipinfo: cannot find zipfile directory in one of /home/jonathan/Downloads/iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe or
          /home/jonathan/Downloads/iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe.zip, and cannot find /home/jonathan/Downloads/iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe.ZIP, period.

jonathan@possibility:~$ sudo updatedb
[sudo] password for jonathan:
jonathan@possibility:~$

Dear Manfred:

                             The last message is what came up in the terminal when I followed your instructions. The output was simply to return to the original line.

1. the error messages about iLividSetup-r478-n-bf.exe:
This is the (not really helpful) message that you get when you try executing a Windows executable on Ubuntu. You cannot start a Windows .exe file on Ubuntu. There is the wine package for Ubuntu which is a kind of Windows emulator that might be able to run that program.

2. Yes, the "sudo updatedb" command should produce output only if it fails ("no news is good news"). So it went ok. Now please issue the other three commands and copy/paste all output into this question document. (These commands will produce output. In case that they don't show anything but the system prompt in the next line, even that is important information.)

jonathan@possibility:~$ sudoupdatedb
sudoupdatedb: command not found
jonathan@possibility:~$ locate hello.c
/home/jonathan/Desktop/hello.c
/home/jonathan/Desktop/hello.c~
jonathan@possibility:~$ uname-a
uname-a: command not found
jonathan@possibility:~$ uname -a
Linux possibility 3.5.0-46-generic #70~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 9 23:56:40 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
jonathan@possibility:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise
jonathan@possibility:~$

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf( "I am alive! Beware.\n" );
    getchar();
    return 0;
}#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf( "I am alive! Beware.\n" );
    getchar();
    return 0;
}

This is strange. I tried entering gcc: /home/jonathan/Desktop/hello.c and I got:

No command "gcc:' found, did you mean:
Command "gcc" from package "gcc" (main)
Command "gcc" from package "pentium-builder" (universe)
gcc:: command not found (this could be my typing error, typing in two colons?)
jonathan@possibility:~$
jonathan@possibility~$

Then when I went to copy and paste it in this box, the original C program I was trying to compile came up!

Ok. This shows that the hello.c program is located on your Desktop.
You have to be aware that when you start a terminal window, you are located in your home directory, and not in the directory that reflects the desktop.

Try the following:
Open a terminal
Issue the commands

cd Desktop
gcc hello.c
./a.out

Maybe even better is to provide an output parameter to the c compile command to avoid that the executable program is called a.out

gcc hello.c -o hello
./hello

My last answer was to your previous question.
Now to your last one:

The command is "gcc" and not "gcc:"