Query on google analytics

Question

can someone to some resources for google analytics.i.e,where it can be used what all it can track..Also what does the following code does

      <script type="text/javascript">
 var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js'"));

  <script>
  var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXXXXXX");
  pageTracker._initData();
   pageTracker._setDomainName(".mydomain.com");
  pageTracker._trackPageview();
 </script>

Answer 1

The first script builds a URL where to download the script from (either from an SSL site if your original site uses HTTPS or from a not secure site if your original site does not use HTTPS). Then it includes a link to embed qa.js from Google.

The second script does the actual tracking (i.e. collects some info/parameters and submits this raw data to Google Analytics)

In regards how it works and what it can track - start with these 2 links:

http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55539

http://analytics.blogspot.com/search/label/Beginner%20Topics