I say skip the compiling initially and start with some python programming. Python is an interpreted language, akin to basic. It is so simple to write code for you can comfortably do it on your tablet.

If you don't know anything about python, start with the nice tutorial written by its creator guido van rossum:
http://docs.python.org/tut/

then look at the python for maemo web-site
http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/
and go over the tutorial there.

you'll also want to dig into some gui programming with gtk+
http://www.pygtk.org
again, start with the tutorial

The developer docs and training manuals at maemo.org are also valuable resources

Most of the maemo/gui stuff you learn from python will also apply when using lower level compiled languages such as C (for which you will need scratchbox)

One of the best ways to learn is to find a project to contribute to and study its source code.