I can in no way say that I am an expert on programming at all. Not even close. That's my disclaimer.

Based on your last paragraph, I guess my only advice would be to start with smaller building blocks. I'll just use myself as an example.

I use [this website](tane.us/ac/nl.html) a lot. One day I said to myself - this would be a cool Android app. I've never built an app in my life, but I figured I could start here. Having a small problem you want to solve is a good start.

So, problem 1: What language is Android even developed in? Java. So I need to create a Java environment. I get Eclipse. Cool.

Problem 2: What are the basics of Android development? There's a guide for that, written by Google. Thorough and helpful, I read it before doing anything else.

Problem 3: How do I just make a tiny, basic app that just, I dunno, displays text? Google has me covered there, too.

Problem 4: What exactly would an app based on that website entail? So I drew out a plan. The basics would be:

It needs buttons.

It needs to run in the background.

It needs to change its state every hour.

It needs music added to it, on repeat.

So on and so forth. Then each of those little things, I try to master, before moving on to the next little thing.

After that small little project, do another, and another. The basis here is just learning new skills that can be applied to the overall goal that you have for your "dream program." Widening that pool of what you can do in a particular language is what causes you to gain more experience as a programmer.

Hopefully that's a little helpful.

Also, StackOverflow might be a nice place to start asking questions.