Database vs. Tablespace vs. Datafiles

I'm a little confused on this one. I'm totally new to Oracle, so bear with me!

1. I've read tons of docs about the basic layout and policies of Oracle. It's my understanding that the DB is the master of it all, followed in a pecking order: TableSpaces, DataFiles, then Extents and other OS block type objects. Right?
2. But this is what gets me: When I create a DB, I'm asked to assign a specific DATAFILE in the create script. Why a DATAFILE? Why have I totally jumped around the TABLESPACE here? Why the heck doesn't the DataBase CREATE command point to a series of specific TABLESPACEs for specific uses instead of a DATAFILE? Then let the DBA assign different DATAFILES to the tablespaces as needed?
3. I read in Oracle docs that when I create a new DataBase, it wants a system, user, temp, index and "general data" tablespaces. But there's no place to add TABLESPACES in the "Create Database" statement! Am I wrong on that?
4. I can modify TableSpaces all day long, I've gotten that far. I attach DataFiles to Tablespaces with no problem. But further reading states that the DataFile must be dedicated to the DataBase with no other uses!
5. I'm lost.. I'd love to get over this hurtle, and I'm sure it's just the way I've interpreted all of this, or a mental block or something…

Thanks in advance - Jon

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