absolute beginner, trying to compile

hi there, unfortunately im not very experienced in c/c++. but i want to try out some functions from the boost libs. so i downloaded and extracted the files (1_28_0) to /usr/include/boost_1_28_0. i think i should be able to use most of the functions now(i hope i didnt misunderstand the doc). i want to use dir_it lib, but i cant compile the testfile coming along with boost. it includes and g++ cant find this file. i dont know exactly how to use the -I and -l options. it would be great if someone could help me out. thx,tommi