You want complicated?
You want simple?
Get
THIS BOOK and learn about EEC and you'll have a leg to stand on. I thoroughly understand both.
A basic carb would be air rushing by a hole and the low pressure across the mouth of that hole draws fuel into the stream of passing air. The other 400 parts on the carb I showed above are patches to try to get the method to work well. There are multiple patches to try and make the transition from idle to full power; patches to keep the engine from suddnely shutting off if the throttle is released; patches to crudely enrich the mixture so it will start and then run while cold; patces to crudely enrich the mixture so you can stomp the pedal to the floor without it going lean and blowing the aircleaner off. There are patches to keep the fuel from sloshing away from the jets on corners and bumps and hills; patches to increase the airspeed at low rpms so it will actually draw fuel, while then trying to slow it back down at high rpms so the airstream will not go turbulent and stop metering altogether. There are patches on top of patches on top of patches on top of patches.
EFI is clean and simple. Solid state components that are so reliable you don't even know they exist. Electromagentic components just as reliable. There's about a dozen wires connecting it all together. It adjusts for differnet weather, altitudes and even fuel characteristics--something a carb can't do with even another 100 patches on it. It doesn't stall on hills, it does a way better job of atomizing the fuel--you don't have to go artifically rich because its sprayed right at the port, not released into the airstream a foot and 2 90-degree angles up stream.
A carb is a piece of shit.
That said, it is easy to get your engine running by buying one and throwing it on. I won't deny that. But it's not a route I would take if you are running an engine that Ford made an EFI system for. You would probably get all the parts you need for $50 to set up an EFI. Used EFI components are 1000% more reliable than used carbs. You have to be on the ball to know if you even have all the parts to a carb you buy used. Unless it's an 1850 Holley or a universal AFB, it might not be possible to find the documentation to see if it's all there. That goes for rebuilt ones from Autozone as well.
Speaking of Autozone and carbs. Most people's carbs fail (or they think they fail) so they go to Autozone, the schmuck behind the counter gives them a rebuild and they go slap it on. The core, which has already been through the caustic tank 4,000 times, makes another trip to Mexico and it's 4,001. The orifices and passages in the aluminum or magnesium body get a little bit bigger, reducing the velocity of the shot or the velocity of the ported air or the velocity of the fuel. Some of these carbs are way shot and never seem to work very well even if they were assembled correctly.
If you get a carb, get an AFB type new--they are better than a Holley out of the box and less prone to leak. But I would get the book I linked to up there, read about EFI and then find the used parts to put together a good fuel system.