For a lot of people a custom keyboard is about more than sending button presses to your computer. You want to be able to do things that are more complex than simple button presses and macros. QMK has hooks that allow you to inject code, override functionality, and otherwise customize how your keyboard behaves in different situations.
This page does not assume any special knowledge about QMK, but reading [Understanding QMK](understanding_qmk.html) will help you understand what is going on at a more fundamental level.
This document attempts to explain how the QMK firmware works from a very high level. It assumes you understand basic programming concepts but does not (except where needed to demonstrate) assume familiarity with C. It assumes that you have a basic understanding of the following documents: