In the past weeks I have been repeatedly asked with which module one should get started. Well, the answer is: it depends! Since I´m lazy and and like most self respecting programmers I don´t like to repeat myself I wrote a post about the modules I think are most important in the community right now:
http://blog.squix.ch/2015/03/esp8266-module-comparison-esp-01-esp-05.html
Let me know if I missed something important or if you want to correct the presented facts...
Hope this helps some n00bs to get started with the ESP8266 hacking...
Cheers,
Dani