Scourge of War Boards

Hey guys, I figure there are a few people in the community who know a thing or two about coding. I was wondering if anyone had some tips as to how to get into coding and learn.

I know, NOTHING about it but I would like to learn how to program. I know its the type of thing that would take years to actually get good at coding I fully understand there is no ability to pick something like this up overnight but I really want to get into it but have no idea where to start.

Tips?

You need something to code, like a small game. But you need a purpose, you can't just "code". You need to have a goal.

Microsoft offers express editions of most of their development packages. Look for those.

For something small to start with, I recommend the DragonFireSDK. It's a way to write iPhone games on the PC. I used it for my game. But it's great for beginners because it has samples, a small feature set, and it's easy to do something and see results. It's also in C++ which is the best language to know since you can go anywhere from there.