Four years ago, I wrote about Xah Lee’s Elisp symbols tutorial. It’s a excellent tutorial that helps n00bs understand symbols and distinguish them from their close cousins, variables, found in other languages.
I noticed today that Lee has updated the tutorial. I don’t remember the details of the previous version so I don’t know how much it’s changed but it’s an excellent tutorial and well worth another look. If you haven’t seen it before and ever work with Elisp, it’s a must-read.
More generally, if you’re just getting started with Elisp, Lee’s tutorials are an excellent resource. As with other Lisps, the syntax of Elisp is really easy to learn. It’s the library and idioms that make it hard and Lee’s tutorials really help with those.