Looking to learn some scripting/anything else needed to figure this out..

I want to unzip or unrar some files of pictures and then resize them smaller for my phone then rezip/rerar them. I do not want the scipt to do it directly i want to be lead to the information that will help me make a script to do it. basically skill wise i know a few commands to move around on a command line but not much else. i appreciate any help you could give i also have no programming skills. if this project is going to take time i want to take the time to learn. If it takes a year thats fine by me. I love the idea and concepts of linux, and honestly my biggest hobby is computers. And if anyone has some literature, help me figure out which kind of distro i should use between: arch, gentoo, slackware, debian, red hat, ie the type of package management. i like new software but not beta's, and i am really getting disgusted at the amount of ram windows requires even though i have 4 gigs i just get annoyed at how much it uses by itself.