[sdiy] Beginners guide to ATMEL programming?

[Julian]

Learning how to program ATMEL devices is somthing that ive been wanting to get to for some time, however, im not so sure where to 
start.

I know there's going to be a lot of information about, but i thought it best to ask here, as then ill specifically get answers from 
the knowledge pool of interest : )

I have no background in C at all, however can often 'get the job done' (all be it not elegantly) with perl (so i have a very basic 
understanding of such things, but nothing in-depth)

I have an atmel SK500 programmer / dev board about, but have used it for nothing other than writing other peoples .hex files to 
micros before.

I have plenty of audio related ideas, but think it would be far better to start with simpler midi / trigger devices?

Anyway, anyone got any pointers / advice on where to start?

Thank you, Julian