Create a new text file with the following entries:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/path/to/executable
Name=Name of app as you want it to appear
Icon=/path/to/icon
To set a category (Programming used in example):
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/path/to/executable
Name=Name of app as you want it to appear
Icon=/path/to/icon
Categories=TextEditor;Development;IDE;
For an entry for just your user:
Save the file as application-name.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications where '~' represents your home path accessible by the command 'echo $HOME'.
For all users:
Save the file as application-name.desktop in /usr/share/applications.