At first you need to know which OS you are targeting and which language. C++ isnt the only game in town. Java, Objective-C and C# are also important languages.
Microsoft Visual Studio:
Download for the Windows world but also
Eclipse
Also a look on
QT is really useful.
Do not only hope, but learn programming. It is an art of architecting code into useful software. Begin by the basic skills, write "clean code" and learn from your mistakes. ;-)