Newbie question

[Paul Mcshane]

I havn't got a clue what I'm doing so don't treat me like I'm stupid even
though I am compared to all of you. What is the basics to programming, you
write the code and compile it? I know a few useless web languages so they
should come in handy on my way. So you need a compiler to compile your code
unless you can do it yourself? Once the program is compiled you can run it
as a normal executable?
 Any answers are appreciated, I just wanna get to know what I'm doing before
I start to learn anything.
 Thanks again,
             Paul Mc.