If I wanted to tinker around with writing VOIP applications (preferably using Python or C++ as the programming language) does anyone know where I could start? Is there a package I need to install? I’ve been looking at the Asterisk server but I haven’t had any luck finding a good tutorial on setting it up and communicating to it from a client app.

I don’t have a VOIP phone. I was hoping to just do computer-to-phone or computer-to-computer for now.