The few, the proud, the over-worked, under-appreciated, and sleep-deprived: Coders.
These mystics alter the very fabric of our reality with their strange configurations and writings. The intricate writings they dabble in are not for the weak of spirit, but for those who do attempt to tap the inner-workings of the universe, the rewards of self can be phenomenal.
Bower (and probably others who helped) has put together a wonderful little packet for the beginning coder. This includes the Welmar area and its specs as an example, an excellent beginners guide to Mud coding, and all sorts of nifty doodads. He says you should know C before you begin trying to code for the Mud. Orrin assures me this isn't true, and from my experience I'd have to agree: Get your hands dirty first. Just jump right in and start playing around. You'll figure it out eventually. Anyway, here's that packet.
If you're on a Linux machine, you can grab a copy of the original Diku code, and dissect it at your heart's content. Grab that here.
If you're looking for a decent shareware C compiler, try Miracle.
And if you're looking for a really keen PC flavor of GNU's GCC compiler, look no further than Delorie's masterpiece, djgpp.
Good coders are hard to come by, and so well valued in our community. If you've got the skills, use them! Hope to see you coding!