True that, there are some particular particulars.
The good thing is that the programming language is C++, so any C chops you have will be advantageous - I only use C++ inadvertently or when dragging in a library written in C++.
The internet is clogged with tutorials and how-tos and so forth; adding "arduino" to just about any search will demonstrate that almost anything you can think of has been done, however well or not.
arduino chicken coop door
Also, the IDE has many examples on offer, and they usually link to an article that is informative if not brilliant and perfect.
Lastly, I suggest going with the flow. To school noobs on a basic structure for this kind of programming, the "new" sketch has two functions you must write
void setup() {
}
// and...
void loop() {
}
As you might have seen by now, setup() is used for stuff you do at startup time, like fixing I/O pins or initialising things and
loop() is called repeatedly by the main() function the designers keep us away from. You can find the main() without too much trouble, you will see literally almost as simple as
int main(void) {
setup();
for (; ; )
loop();
}
But every line of code that goes into a sketch (sry, just going with the flow here and calling programs sketches) is either one you wrote, or can be found at the source code level somewhere on you machine, library or not. This can be very useful and educational, how they do that? kinda thing.
Lastly, I've never heard of the Mega 2560 going obsolete, this I found now I know but my suspicion is that except for some weedy stuff you can just plow ahead calling it a Mega:
HTH and welcome to the fora.
a7