Question about installing newest versions of software...

Im new to linux.

My question is basically this. Can I, during the Slackware installation, NOT install any GUI/Destop Manager....just basically leave it as a Run level 3 machine....but then once I finish the installation process go in and install the latest version of say GNOME or KDE from source code?

I do not know enough about linux yet to know if its even possible to do what I would like to do and that is this...

To just install the most basic portions of the OS and then build (by installing) the whole OS up with the latest and greatest packages...that I choose to.

It's possible, but do you really want to do it? For KDE, you would have to figure out all the dependencies, ensure the proper order during the install process, and even on a fast system, the compile alone would take at least 20 hours.

A daunting task, even for those who know what they're doing.

If you really want to install a base system and then compile the latest "bleeding edge" DE, then maybe you should go for a Gentoo stage 3 install. That would give you exactly what you're looking for. It would be much more difficult to do in Slackware.