Quick help for basic functionalities

Hello

I come from desktop development background and just managed to install wordpress, can you please help me create the following:

1)
I need an articles page that will list all the articles subcategories in it, so say:
articles.php:
– cat 1
– cat 2
– cat 3
The cat_n list is dynamic
(please note that these so called categories and subcategories have special meaning within the “articles” page context)

* Each subcategory, say cat1 will have the list of articles, so:
main -> articles -> cat1 will have:
– article 1
– article 2

2)
I don’t know how to have on the sidelinks the top pages listed and not their child pages, so on the side navigation page, there should be:
– about page
– articles
– contact me
etc…

I hope you can assist me doing this by providing direct links and suggestions.

I’m planning to write my experience after i finished my site in an article and share it with other beginners.

All the best,
Elias