Having classes would be neat. I don't know too much about c or c++ but you can write objects in there. It would be nice in the arduino environment too.
Arduino does support classes..... http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/LibraryTutorial
I think you should start here: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Blink
The reason is that Arduino actually uses C++. It just tries to hide this fact.
Cheers, Udo