In world of warcraft there is only one king of DPS, and that king is the Rogue. The world of warcraft Rogue is very unique because of its' incredible ability to enter a fight, do very high DPS and then vanish into the shadows. The Rogues limited armor and lack of self healing hardly hurts the Rogue when you take into consideration its' great damage dealing ability. The Rogues' ninja like stealth enables it to attack using it's disengages, interrupts and stuns with such DPS that the attacked foe never has a chance to respond to the threat. No class can do everything and the Rogue is no exception. The Rogue has no long range damage dealing attacks which keeps the Rogue in melee or lurking in the shadows. Simply put, the Rogue though not being armored as well as say a warrior still spends most of its' time in the most dangerous of situations.

WOW Rogue Leveling & Quest Guide
Rogue PVP Guide
Some points to consider when choosing a Rogue race:

Which race you choose as a Rogue will make a big difference in the long run. Many races are available to the Rogue, be sure to check them all out.

On the Alliance side:

The dwarf race will benefit the Rogues' Lockpicking abilities using Find Treasure, but not much else. The dwarves Mace Specialization will help, providing you use of a mace. The dwarf races Stoneform gives the Rogue help against bleeds, diseases and poisons.
Gnome's possess Engineering which may be used to create some neat items to help the Rogue, they also have Escape Artist which will obviously be a plus.
The human is a flexible race with Diplomacy, Sword and Mace Specialization and Every Man for Himself are all handy but not crucial for the Rogue.
The Rogue will benefit from the night elves cloaking skill known as Shadowmeld and the Rogues ability to dodge will be increased by 1%.

WOW Warlock Leveling & Quest Guide
Warlock PVP Guide
Races available to the Horde:

The blood elf has Magic Resistance which the Rogue would not have otherwise and Arcane Torrent is quite handy to any class.
The orcs Hardness is a great help to a Rogues defenses and Blood Fury makes the Rogues all ready awesome DPS even better.
Troll's seem kinda wierd as a Rogue but they do help fight enemies crowd control using Da Voodoo Shuffle, self healing with Regeneration and increased damage using Berserker.
The undead has Cannibalize to keep the Rogue from wasting time resting when soloing and Will of the Forsaken works excellent in PVP.

WOW Warrior Leveling & Quest Guide
Warrior PVP Guide
As a new Rogue your main attack is Sinister Strike which you will use teamed up with Throw and Eviscerate. After you get some gold, you may want to purchase the Stealth skill.

Once you get your Rogue to level 4, Backstab should be your new attack of choice along with Sinister Strike and Throw. The Pick Pocket ability will be very helpful as well.

WOW Power Leveling Guide
A new attack called Gouge comes up at level 6, it's a very good attack but you can also level up Sinister Strike to level 2 making it even better. Eviscerate should still be used as a finishing move.

At level 8 be sure to raise Eviscerate to rank 2 and learn Evasion to help you get out of tricky situations.

At level 10 you will have to start making some choices on which specialization you wish to pursue. Take a good look at your different talent tree's to help you decide how you will want to use your talent point's. By the time you reach level 17 you should have your Rogue set up in the direction you want to specialize in.

World of Warcraft Beginners Guide
From this point on there is too much information to possibly mention in this article, just pay attention to changes in your Rogues abilities and try to focus on your preferred specialization.

Thanks and Happy Gaming.