If you are wondering if Joomla! can do something in particular for you very easily then check : http://extensions.joomla.org/ this is the spot for ready made components added to your forum. They do require a little end user tweaking, but not coding just configuring them so they do exactly what you want. Joomla! is INCREDIBLY POWERFUL right out of the box. Don't waste too much time figuring out how to make your own components. Don't reinvent the wheel. Just start plugging things in right away!