@grubstake Thank you, kind sir, for your detailed and complete answer! This is excellent. I am completely new, so I'll be learning everything.
(I mean no offense to anyone else who answered, and I thank all who took time to reply to me.)
My next step will be a search for books, tutorials, etc., of electronics, components, and so on. This is pretty exciting for me as learning new things I can actually use will be awesome.
I actually ordered this the other day:
Sunfounder Project Super Starter Kit for Arduino UNO R3 Mega2560 Mega328 Nano - Including 73 Page Instructions Book
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D9M4BQU
So, we'll see what happens! Thanks again.