Yes c# is similar to c++ but its not the same. It is much easier to learn and the libraries are easier simpler to use.

Currently though most documentation covers winforms which is the windows way of creating/layout of forms, which as of right now is not available on maemo (although maybe soon ).

For now the compiler environment is to use gtk/glade to layout forms (this is more 'native-linux' way anyways). And then you code the handlers in c#.

Things are changing right now with newer version of mono in test, but go ahead and try to compile the sample i have above and run it (install flite too).

For now, i am using emelfm2 to launch compiler scripts, simple editing of source code, and launching the exe with mono runtime (i manually associated this so not in current download of emelfm2).

Hopefully once this next version is released, i will have nicer debs and possibly emelfm2 helpers to coordinate, but for now i usually end up using openssh from desktop to edit source files and set up glade files (ubuntu synaptic package glade-2).

Here is a good book for learning c# (in general), keep in mind some of it will be talking about winforms and it wont cover gtk/glade.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&...Ut-eUg#PPP1,M1

For mono documentation you can look here :
http://www.go-mono.com/docs/
http://www.mono-project.com/GtkSharp:_Hello_World

So basically the user interface can be either :
- console app
- gtk (where you add the controls in code)
- glade (best way to visually design forms to use with gtk/glade)
- winforms (may soon be available for maemo as it already is for x86 mono)
- webforms (where the program runs with a mini-webserver serving up webpages)

I'd recommend starting to learn with console apps, gtk, or glade for now.