If you're interested in learning to program JUST as a means to create text-based games, not as an end in itself - i.e., if you'd rather focus on the story than on the game design - you could check out Twine (http://twinery.org/). Twine is a tool you can use to create interactive text games, and you don't have to do anything more complex than simple CSS and pseudo-Wikipedia markup language. I wouldn't recommend it if you plan to track stats, or have the PC fight NPCs, or create an inventory system more complex than (has item = yes or no?), because your story will quickly get too tangled to keep track of. Twine's really best if you're creating a CYOA game or similar. Still, in my opinion, anything Inform can do, Twine can do better.
Twine is neat - it was also used to write To be or not to be an awesome "choose-your-own-adventure" adaption of Hamlet, by Ryan North (author of Dinosaur Comics and other randomness)