O.K. so how do i get started? what are the best steps to learning a programming language
to program for linux, of course

At the risk of stating the obvious - find some good books and start reading (RTFM) assuming its the language you are trying to learn, for Linux this will probably be C or maybe C++. I'm gonna start on the O'Reilly Practicle C Programming soon so will be able to give you comments on that if you wish. I've always found all the O'Reilly books to be great (With the exception of "MySQL and mSQL").

If you want to know more specifically about programming the kernel then have a look at

http://linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/HOWTO-IN...ogramming.html
http://linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/mini/Pro...Languages.html

and if you're on a tight timescale to learn this then the following might be useful ;)

http://linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/mini/Coffee.html

cheers.

Jamie...

one of the many great things about linux is that you can use many different languages for every day operation... but i agree with Jamie, c or c++ would be the best start... i suggest starting with c, and after you get a strong understanding of c, c++ will be easy and youll be able to see both the strong points and the weaknesses of both of them.. and i almost gurantee that if you can pick up these two and understand them well, you should have very little trouble with any other languages (with the exception of assembly!)... i would suggest checking out an all programming msgboard... for the c's id suggest http://www.cprogramming.com ... nothing against this programming board, but those guys post about nothing but c/c++ code...

The O'Reilly book I mentioned previously seems to be upto the usual (and expect) very high standards. Reads very easily, although if you have previous programming experience it'll start off a little slow. Very well written. Details are: Practical C Programming by Steve Oualline, ISBN 1-56592-306-5

Jamie...

sup
 

i know c and c++ the real difference in learning other then syntax is objects. When grasping the idea of Object oriented design c++ is becomes C. So its up to you. Once mastering C++ check out data structures and programming type specific subjects..as for me im a linux newbie complete newbie..i cant even get the damn thing to install
oh well
good luck laterz