I've been looking for a truly simple wordpress theme creation tutorial and haven't been able to find one. I'm specifically looking for something with sample code, a basic introduction to the syntax, and a list of all the wordpress-specific functions and variables and what they are.
2 Answers
This is is good. http://themeshaper.com/wordpress-themes-templates-tutorial/
I would also recommend youtube, vimeo and lynda.com for video tutorials
Codex has plenty of relevant information, but it takes some effort to find it and put together.
For starters see: