No prior programming experience? A good first step would be to study at least one book about basic principles of programming in general, and about logic, design and history of programming languages, like:

• www.dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/
  DMOZ page about programming languages.
• vig.prenhall.com/catalog/academic/product/0,4096,0130083968,00.html
  Understanding Unix/Linux Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice (a review)
• www.kohala.com/start/unpv22e/unpv22e.html
  Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment
• www.htdp.org
  How To Design Programs