[Intel Mac Rainbow crack]

Yeah, on the newest revision of the source, the diff file doesn't work, however the code change was minor enough that you can open the diff up in a text editor, and do the changes by hand. If you're wanting to roll your own, you gotta get your hands dirty.

[coding language]

VB is a good newbie language, but has horrible syntax at times, and allows for really sloppy coding. Personally, I would recommend REALbasic over Visual Basic. RB is cross platform, allows for commandline coding, and stresses a bit cleaner code at times. Plus, less major changes that require massive rewrites in code, unlike VB. Really, there are many many forms of BASIC that are good to play with. Gambas is good if you are a Linux user and do simple things. Blitzbasic (or rather, now its successor, Blitzmax) is good for making simple small games.

Other languages to start with would be Pascal, Python, and Ruby.

If you're wanting to start with a C relative, C# might be the way to go, since general concensus is that it is at times easier than C or C++. Plus with Mono instead of .NET, you get good crossplatform support. I'm with Boristsr though, C and its offshoots are not for newbs.