Linux programming is not that different. Instead of running your programs in a DOS window, it would run in a terminal (looks the same as DOS, but is much more powerful). If you want a nice looking programming environment for C and C++ you should install KDevelop (mostly standard installed). The syntax is, like you said, not that different for most (simple) programs. The famous 'Hello world' example ran very smooth for me without changing the code.
Here are some good sites:
www.kdevelop.org (for working with kdevelop)
www.techtutorials.info/liprog.html (The linux programmers guide)
The C or C++ code from most tutorial sites should probably work quite smooth on Linux without having to change to much. And I think KDevelop has some programming tutorials build in too.
Good luck and a lot of fun while programming.