Late Spring and Summer plans

As my Java class is school wraps up, with it, my Junior year in high school, I have began to think about my next coarse of action. I want to be able to start to help develop Digital Paint but there are so many routes to take, I took me a while to figure it out. I have finally figured out my plans for after school, with the help of a trusted friend. I want to know C++ but Digital Paint is programmed in C so I was at a cross road. My friend informed me that the best way to learn C++ is to learn C++ and then read through a quick tutorial to learn C and then figure out the differences between the two. It sounds like the best course of action so through the summer, I will begin to once again, learn C++. I will also learn the ways of 3dsMax and hopefully by the end of summer, I will begin to be an asset to the Digital Paint community. Its a while away but hell, got to think big some times.