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Dear Love,
C for Dummies is a fine guide to start out with. If you are considering C++, try Absolute C++ by Walter Savich. It is written in English that many would understand, targetted towards university students. Not something you would be able to pick up at a Barnes & Noble or Borders, mind you. Amazon.com might have it.
If you plan on compiling a realm on a Windows machine, you may also want to pick up or read some documentation regarding Windows vulnerabilities. Same goes for any other types of platforms you decide to build on. It is a very cold day when a hacker decides to swipe up all your code, source or binary, when you spent days, months, or even years, working on it.
Prior to actually coding in a realm, check out socket programming! I may or may not suit your taste, but helps in rounding out one's knowledge base.
Coding a MUD is quite an ambitious project. Though it may not be your fancy, try testing out those free codebases, such as CircleMUD or LPMud. Try altering some code and see what types of responses you get from the code. Read some more, then code, read some more, code. The books will let you get by with coding simple addition programs, but MUDs are fundamentally complex. Data structures, heartbeats, structures -- not to mention things people will see in the game, skill systems, death systems, and so on.
Most codebases can be heavily torn apart and filled in with an author's revisions. Yet, people find that their worlds are still contrained by the principles inherent to the free codebase, usually surrounding how data structures work or how the game reacts to players. Some have been very successful at this, however.
Not sure how long this will take, it all depends on how much time you have to devote to the project. Even veteran programmers can spend 1-2 years coding the basics of their world. Best of luck on your endeavors!
Best regards,
Raewyn
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