[RWebb]

it is hard to give any overall advice w/o knowing your budget, tho Z-man gave you some good generalities to follow

to add to that, a film camera makes good digital photos if you have them scanned at the time the film is developed - you lose the immediacy of a digital camera, but gain

for training in photography, I would avoid a 50 mm lens (35 mm film format) in favor of a mild tele & a moderate wide angle - that will force you to not "cheat" with a zoom lens

one good exercise is to shoot pics of an egg in black & white only for 3 weeks and nothing else

a pocket camera will not give you the low light performance or an SLR, the "ready to hand" knobs and switches, and often the contrast performance BUT a good one can give you nearly everything else and will be in your pocket when the DSLR is not...

you can read existing threads on the Nikon vs. Canon wars...

FWIW, I am a confirmed Nikon DSLR & SLR guy, but I also use a Canon S-95. The Lumix camers are also good.