SharePoint 2010 development for dummies

I regularly get questions like 'How do I learn to start developing SharePoint applications ?'. Of course there is no real basic answer to this and therefore I am starting up this collection of articles. People that want to start developing for SharePoint can use these articles to start from the very basics to get their skills up and running. You could see it as a 'SharePoint development for dummies' series.

First we start with some very short articles which explain what SharePoint actually is and what is there under the hood. It's important as a new SharePoint developer that you know all the terms and technologies mentioned.

Quick technology overview

* SharePoint 2010 technologies overview

*SharePoint 2010 architectural principles

* Microsoft article about what is functionally possible out of the box

Next, we continue with a lot of articles that bring you up to speed with the most important principles for a SharePoint developer.

I want to:
* install a SharePoint 2010 development box
* know what the '14 hive' is all about
* get an overview of the SharePoint databases

* enable more debug information to help me during development
* get an overview of the SharePoint command line tool

* get an overview of how SharePoint is built up hierarchical and how to use the respective API Classes

* get an overview of CAML queries

* get an overview of features
* get an overview of web parts