reading material?

[Edward Sanford Sutton, III]

        My main problem with attempting linux programming has been not knowing 
where 
to start. I find when I've tried to jump in on code in one project or 
another, I get headaches from errors about not being able to write to a 
'variable' I defined because they got me to create what was really an object, 
which I only messed with a bit in c++ and not c like the current project was 
in. I've got a rather handy reference book for c/c++, but that was written to 
include borland's turbo c++ and requires a more powerful one for some 
projects in the book (it even ends with a touch at windows gui programming).
        I was wondering if anyone could suggest references they use for the gnu 
c++ 
and python (that'll be a new one for me) that can help get me up to speed for 
linux programming (and hopefully understanding the lines of LilyPond code 
more than just vaguely). If something like info docs are preferred, where 
should I start with those?
        I know there are coding guidelines mentioned on the site, but I don't 
know of 
any sort of getting started type of docs.  =(
Thanks for any feedback,
Ed Sutton