if you're just starting out I would honestly stay away from c/c++. Get good with python first.
You can code python in anything you like, and just scp it to the device to test, no need for development SDKs or any of that stuff.
esbox is a good place to start for an eclipse development environment with python support.
winSCP is a windows prog that would let you send the files to your device. Start with the hello world examples out of the development pages.
I put the first draft of my app witter on my blog
http://danielwould.wordpress.com/200...ent-for-maemo/
which I think is agood place to look once you are beyond the helloworld and want to learn a bit more about basic ui. and calling out to the web for stuff.

Not sure what you are thinking of developing but that lot should keep you busy and get you a good start. ;-)