> Thanks for the advice, i don't kid myself. I know html isn't a programming
> language and i have always wanted to learn C anything but i never knew a good
> way to start, i started doing tutorials online one day and then got sidetracked
> and never went back.
>
> You recommend a good program to start with? my issue was there are a million C
> compilers out there that i don't know what to use.

Programming is programming, it doesn't matter where you learn the theory so long as you do it. If you want to make sure your app works on every system, use this compiler, which is essentially GCC for Windows. It's a well known compiler used by many popular software applications and games, for computers, consoles, and embedded platforms. You can get libraries to work on DS games with this if you wanted to.

If you want to start programming graphics and games, try libsdl which will provide you with a simple interface to get started. DirectX takes a ton of code just to initialize and it can be all very confusing, this just gets down to what you want to do, and again it will work on all systems. There are some good examples on there and tutorials as well, but your best bet is to start modifying examples and see how they work. SDL is under the LGPL which means you can link to it (i.e. use it in your program) and you don't have to release your program as open source.

If you want to start programming applications, wxWidgets is a simple way to start building interfaces. It is under the LGPL.

Later on if you want to get more complex (but really, put it way off because getting the basics down is hard enough): GTK (LGPL) is a more robust option which is a bit more complex, but also has a lot of third party tools that let you design GUIs graphically. There is also QT which is more robust and has fancier tools to help you develop, but you have to release your program as open source. If you want to close it up you have to purchase a commercial license.

The best thing you can do, is program a simple game like Space Invaders, or Tetris. They're one screen games, not a lot going on, and they let you practice basic things such as key grabbing, collision detection, and simple moving shapes. Plus you don't have to worry a lot about doing art which takes a really long time.

If you want to start programming applications, then start off by making a front end to simple commands you want to accomplish, such as making an interface that lets you rename a whole folder of files based on wildcard matching, or making a sticky notes application, or an alarm clock program that launches an MP3 of the user's choice, etc.

Look for examples you can modify, just start pasting blocks of code together to get what you want done if you have to, and get something to work, then start building on that. Try and program utilities that would make your life simpler on your computer. If you're working on games, try cloning Super Mario Bros next, and then move on to 1942 or Contra.

Don't start buying books, just get something to work first, and look at all the tutorials you can find. They're not all good and the more you see, the more you can find something more suited to you.