Do you have any knowledge of basic programming?
If your goal is more to make something the easiest way there is Real Basic, a Visual Basic style construction set type of interface and a free demo is available.
You neeed very little actual prgramming ability to use real basic but it could come in handy to tweak your apps. and you can hook them to databases like filkemaker to add functionality.
If you want to make real programs from scratch by coding every line in C, C++ or Java you can use the built in deveelopment tools in OSX or try a DEMO of Code Warrior, a programming development interface.
The first programming I did was on Quick basic, then visual basic, C,C++, Java, Intel assembler, PHP/Mysql, Cobol, RPG, Oracle,.
Java might be a fun place to start, it's a little easier than C++, is platform independant and can be compiled and ran from any Mac with the built in compiler and runtime environment.
There are many people here that program in COCOA, the native OSX code, it might be ggod to look at that too, but I havent looked at it yet.
You can also develop apps to work within a web browser with PHP and can hook it to free databases like Posgres or MYSql. there's a lot of practical stuff you can do with PHP web apps.
Do you have basic programming skills?
I dont really know of a single introductory to programming in general, but you could just pick something and go for it.
Am I way out here or does this help?