I'm not really a developer but I have experience in PHP, Java and want to have a go at developing some really simple SharePoint web parts (for WSS 3.0, MOSS 2007 and in future 2010).
I assume it requires knowledge of ASP.NET. Should I start learning C# or get stuck straight into web parts.
Any good tutorials for a complete beginner?
If you are going to start from scratch, I highly recommend SharePoint 2010. The development environment is so much better and simpler and does not require 3rd party tools (such as WSP Builder) or additional Visual Studio plugins. First get comfortable with C# and then move on to SharePoint webparts.
There will certainly be a learning curve to get comfortable with C# and the .Net object model, but you will have a much easier time if you start with SharePoint 2010 and Visual Studio 2010.
You will start with C# (or VB.Net) and ASP.Net which are both necessary for Web Part Development. I moved from Java to .Net when .Net was introduced and found C# to be a close enough match to make sense. Learning the .Net Framework will take more time than learning C# syntax, coming from Java. The benefit you have on the C# side is possibly the best development experience with Visual Studio 2010. VS 2010 comes with everything you need to get started on SharePoint Development.
If you wand to do 2007 for now, MS Recommends Visual Studio Extensions for VS 2007 and has link texta one pager on getting started.
Have a look at this article
http://anyrest.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/developing-web-parts-for-moss-is-easy/ itis for Sharepoint 2007 but will also work with 2010
