cd /usr/src (this is the standard location for source code)
wget http://some.site.com/blah/software-1.01.tar.gz (we need to get the tarball)
tar xzf software.tar.gz  (ungzip and untar it)
cd software-1.01  (now go to the dir)
perl Makefile.PL (./configure for most C code)
make  (compile)
make test (test)
make install (install ;-)