Where is a good place to store programs? Example: I downloaded, and compiled from source, both Allegro-4.2.2 game dev for C++, and Python 2.6, but they're stored in the /home folder. Is that a good place to store files? I don't think it's good to mix that up with basic things such as music, pictures, or videos, is it?

Personal preference plays a large part.

It makes sense to seperate programs from data, you may want to install programs to /usr/local/bin just don't forget to update your $PATH environment variable.

I use a simple convention:

Install all possible with the package manager---it decides where things go.
Everything else goes in /opt
Personal utility scripts go in $HOME/bin

More generally, take a look at the FHS (http://www.pathname.com/fhs/), which describes what each of the different directories in a Linux system are supposed to be for.

Generally speaking, software that is installed on the local system, that is not to be modified by the package manager, “should” go into /usr/local/ (using /usr/local/bin for binary executables, /usr/local/etc for configuration etc).

Of course, you're free to do what you like with your own computer; the FHS is intended reading for distribution maintainers rather than system administrators. Personally, I find it easiest to try and follow it, rather than making up my own arbitrary system; that way, if another person has to maintain the same computer then they should have some idea of where to find things.

When you say "they're stored in the /home folder", do you mean the actual binaries or the source files? If you mean the source directories themselves, I usually save those in a separate folder in my $HOME, which I call - boringly enough - sources. If you didn't do anything fancy to the programs you compiled, then you probably installed them to /usr/local which is the default choice for many (most?) programs.

Thanks for the info guys, but here's another question:

When I compiled Python 2.6 from source, I moved the folder where I did all the ./configure, make, and then make install to the directory /home/john.

http://i33.tinypic.com/2djnywj.jpg

But I see Python in the /usr/local/bin folder as well. Is it safe to delete the Python-2.6 folder in /home/john?

http://i33.tinypic.com/2qtzd37.jpg

You've installed python already.
It is now safe to delete the folder from home directory.

This is what I meant by asking if you meant the sources or the binaries. The items in /usr/local/bin are the binaries. They are the compiled and installed programs that you made. The folder in your /home directory is the original sources folder. You can throw it away, but I prefer to create a directory (called sources) and store the source folders there. Sometimes you need to patch and recompile a program, and sometimes you want to uninstall it and the sources may include a make uninstall target. So, just as a thought, you might create a backup folder and move the sources there.

Look at "./configure --help". The "make install" phase will install the files under a base directory. Usually /usr/ or /usr/local. There is an option to change this. Here is an example from grub:
/usr/local/ is the hierarchy for packages you install yourself. If you are compiling a source package that your distro supplies, /usr/ may be the default. /usr/local/ will not be disturbed during a distro upgrade.

If you use /usr/local/ as the prefix, then make sure that /usr/local/bin/ is in your $PATH and /usr/local/sbin/ is in root's path.
Also add /usr/local/lib/ to /etc/ld.so.conf, if it isn't already. Then run "sudo /sbin/ldconfig". This makes sure that libraries installed can be found as well.