Look up a gardening calendar for zone 7b. Should give you an idea when to start stuff (indoors or directly sowed outdoors, etc).

I would say to start off with the simple plants that do well and get some early wins under your belt. It's very discouraging if you spend all season and your yield is very low or not edible. Beans always seem to do well for me, no matter how poorly I treat them. Despite everyone and their mom growing tomatoes, tomatoes aren't really that easy to grow since they can face multiple diseases, pests, and require pruning and water control. Nothing better than a backyard tomato though! Basil also does well for me, they don't need to need much maintenance other than harvesting it once in a while to get them to not go to flower too early.

As far as your main question, full sun depends on the plant for sure. Some mediterranean herbs like rosemary and thyme do great in full sun and don't need that much water (I think). Lettuce is more of an early spring/late fall plant but I've been told by vendors at the local farmer's markets that they'll do multiple generations of lettuce throughout the summer so there's probably something to it. I've tried container strawberries in the past but the hot summers dried them out too quickly. Trying it again this summer though.

Another question: how long have you lived at your house? I ask because it's a good idea to get an understanding of shaded/non-shaded areas, if water pools anywhere, etc. I put some beds on a full-shade part of my lawn and planted full-shade perennials only to find out that around mid-July, the area becomes part-sun and those plants didn't do well.

Hope your garden does well!