Dave, the only way you will learn without going to a college and taking a basic programming class is to teach yourself.

In fact even then when you are being taught by a teacher, most of what you learn will come from yourself by playing around, experimenting and breaking and fixing stuff.

Most of those with CS degrees will have already known how to code before they even got to University as they taught themselves by trial and error as teenagers.

The best advice I can give you (I'm a fully qualified Post-Graduate CS teacher) is for you to get ONE good tutorial book for a language and stick with it until you have finished every page in the book. Keep to the one book and don't be tempted to switch to another half way through.

If you want to learn C++ (I personally reccomend it over C as a first laguage as is simplfies some of the harder concepts, others may will disagree) then there are two books I can recommend. The first throws you right in at the deep end right from the beginning but will make you a better programmer and make you understand what the concepts you are being taught actually do. The second holds your hand all the way through and is written in a master/student corresepondence style.

http://www.amazon.com/Accelerated-C-Practical-Programming-Example/dp/020170353X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375908940&sr=1-1&keywords=accelerated+c%2B%2B

http://www.amazon.com/Whos-Afraid-Programming-Primer-PC/dp/0123390974/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375908974&sr=1-1&keywords=who%27s+afraid+of+c%2B%2B

Once you've mastered C++ as a "fancier C" you'll have no trouble picking up C development from K&R's "The C Programming Language" reference book and won't need a tutorial book to learn it.

At that point you can then start learning the Amiga API's from the other links posted in this thread and Krashan's excellent MorphOS Programmer's Handbook (I'm reading it myself at the moment as i'm writing Amiga code for the first time in a VERY long time).

Seriously. Get one book (Preferably the first). Complete it. Get K&R. Then start learning the Amiga API.

The whole process will take at least six months and won't be easy but you can always ask questions here or on one of the many C/C++ forums out there.

As with all advice, you are free to ignore all of the above and I won't be offended. ;)

@Everyone else, feel free to correct anything I've said or even call BS on it. ;)