tutorial

[rfriedman at saucontech.com]

I am new to the field of map rendering and would like to know how I can learn
more about the 'big picture.' For instance, what is a shapefile and how do I
create one? What are mapfiles, views, templates, etc.?  I know there is a
tutorial off the mapserver homepage, but it is very bare-bones and seems to
assume a degree of familiarity with basic map generation concepts that I don't
have yet.

Any ideas on where I can go to learn about this topic?