Plugins... (like wordpress?)

Hey, Have just started screwing around with wordpress and I must say... it has a lot of really really nice bits and pieces... two of my favourites are widgets and plugins... not a hundred percent certain exactly what the diff is though! :) Anyway, was thinking it would be a great way to program for my next project... instead of jumping into the code again and again... write specific code and throw the file into the directory... then it either gets read and executed automatically or have a feature like WP where you have to "activate" it... only problem is, i dont know where to begin... i did do a little google searching and have a rough idea.. but would appreciate it if YOU could give me some links or code that got you started... something that was easy when you were beginning... something that lit that lightbulb in your head when you read it... Thanks in advance! R ------ - The faulty interface lies between the chair and the keyboard. - Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster! - Smile, everyone loves a moron. :-)