I first learned objectscript and started to learn other languages. Comparing that, objectscript is pretty easy as python. Straightforward to logic and no type declaration is mandatory. IRIS is combined the features of cache and Ensemble. I.e database with interoperability. IRIS has two versions I am not sure which one you're learning one for Health care and other for general use. Still time zone issue persists in iris let's see they can solve in future versions.  

@Anastasia Dyubaylo it seems topic bonus and video bonus is not included. Article is one of the AI topic and IRIS AI feature. Video link as well attached in the article.

it seems smtp connection failed is generic issue. please try to check the configuration of SMTP server , port and username/password. if all good then test the connection using any tools from local. As well, need to enable the gmail to use as smtp server. Please refer this article https://www.gmass.co/blog/gmail-smtp/ . If you provide more detail we can find out the specific issue.