Forum:Getting into the Nethack source code

SO: as the title says, I have just recently begun delving into the Nethack source code, and I must say it has been at once a very confusing and yet exceedingly interesting process. I have a little bit of past experience messing around with Python, and I can (mostly) read C (which is what most of Nethack is written in) but when it comes to making changes or adding items, which is exactly what I want to do, I mostly have no idea what I'm doing. :3

Before someone says this, I know full well that Nethack is NOT a very good first project to work on as a learn-by-doing coding experiment. I am painfully aware that the Nethack source code is the result of many years of jerry-rigged additions and modifications, that most of the code that is written is highly convoluted and make references to bits of code in a billion other places, and that the whole thing, even to an experienced programmer, is rather daunting. Be that as it may, however, this is what I've chosen to (hopefully) learn a thing or two from, and so I hope to get as much help with that as I can get. :D

So, that being said, what I'm looking for is someone who either knows a thing or two about the code and would be willing to put up with my insufferable n00bishness long enough to teach it to me, or a link to another forum/nethack community with someone who does. Any takers?