Using ESP8266-01 with Arduino uno R3 I am trying to learn how to use ESP-01(AI-Cloud, Black Version) with arduino

Initially, I created an adapter for it that has 4 inputs: RX, TX, Vcc(3.3v), GND I checked it and the wiring seems fine then I attached TX of arduino to TX of ESP and same with RX but with a voltage divider (1k ohm,2kohm),I uploaded arduino with a blank sketch and tried to run commands like AT and AT+CWMODE? but I got no response on the serial monitor.I tried to look for a proper tutorial to do this but, all tutorials show how to upload a sketch to ESP rather than arduino. Then I searched and found this piece of code:

#include &lt;SoftwareSerial.h&gt;

#define DEBUG true

SoftwareSerial esp8266(2,3); // make RX Arduino line is pin 2, make TX Arduino line is pin 3.
                            // This means that you need to connect the TX line from the esp to the Arduino's pin 2
                            // and the RX line from the esp to the Arduino's pin 3
void setup()
{
 Serial.begin(9600);
 esp8266.begin(115200); // your esp's baud rate might be different



 sendData("AT+RST\r\n",2000,DEBUG); // reset module
 sendData("AT+CWMODE=2\r\n",1000,DEBUG); // configure as access point
 sendData("AT+CIFSR\r\n",1000,DEBUG); // get ip address
 sendData("AT+CIPMUX=1\r\n",1000,DEBUG); // configure for multiple connections
 sendData("AT+CIPSERVER=1,80\r\n",1000,DEBUG); // turn on server on port 80
}

void loop()
{
 if(esp8266.available()) // check if the esp is sending a message
 {
   /*
   while(esp8266.available())
   {
     // The esp has data so display its output to the serial window
     char c = esp8266.read(); // read the next character.
     Serial.write(c);
   } */

   if(esp8266.find("+IPD,"))
   {
    delay(1000);

    int connectionId = esp8266.read()-48; // subtract 48 because the read() function returns
                                          // the ASCII decimal value and 0 (the first decimal number) starts at 48

    String webpage = "&lt;h1&gt;Hello&lt;/h1&gt;&amp;lth2&gt;World!&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;button&gt;LED1&lt;/button&gt;";

    String cipSend = "AT+CIPSEND=";
    cipSend += connectionId;
    cipSend += ",";
    cipSend +=webpage.length();
    cipSend +="\r\n";

    sendData(cipSend,1000,DEBUG);
    sendData(webpage,1000,DEBUG);

    webpage="&lt;button&gt;LED2&lt;/button&gt;";

    cipSend = "AT+CIPSEND=";
    cipSend += connectionId;
    cipSend += ",";
    cipSend +=webpage.length();
    cipSend +="\r\n";

    sendData(cipSend,1000,DEBUG);
    sendData(webpage,1000,DEBUG);

    String closeCommand = "AT+CIPCLOSE=";
    closeCommand+=connectionId; // append connection id
    closeCommand+="\r\n";

    sendData(closeCommand,3000,DEBUG);
   }
 }
}


String sendData(String command, const int timeout, boolean debug)
{
   String response = "";

   esp8266.print(command); // send the read character to the esp8266

   long int time = millis();

   while( (time+timeout) &gt; millis())
   {
     while(esp8266.available())
     {

       // The esp has data so display its output to the serial window
       char c = esp8266.read(); // read the next character.
       response+=c;
     }  
   }

   if(debug)
   {
     Serial.print(response);
   }

   return response;
}


I hooked pins according to the code and it worked serial monitor output some lines but with allot of garbage values, This also created a wifi hotspot 'AI-Thinker' which I connected to and opened Ip as shown on debugging. This made ESP try to send string 'webpage' but mostly was garbage.

so my question is, how to properly use esp with arduino to maybe just switch an led on or send data from sensors, super basics?

Is it better to use esp Library and upload sketches to esp and control arduino with it?

Can some one suggest the proper tutorial for this? because even after all this I am still confused that is RX of arduino connected to RX(which makes no sense but given in many of google images) or TX of ESP-01?
To confirm that the serial communication is working, connect the ESP to the Arduino D10 and D11 that is used as SoftSerial pins.

+----+
| PC |
+--/-+
   |       +---------+
   \-------| Arduino |
     USB   +--.------+
              | SoftSerial
              |
           +--\----+
           | ESP01 |
           +-------+


And then upload this code to the Arduino. The code is from https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/SoftwareSerialExample

/*
 Receives from the hardware serial, sends to software serial.
 Receives from software serial, sends to hardware serial.

 The circuit:
 * RX is digital pin 10 (connect to TX of ESP01)
 * TX is digital pin 11 (connect to RX of ESP01)

 Created back in the mists of time
 modified 25 May 2012
 by Tom Igoe
 based on Mikal Hart's example

 This example code is in the public domain.
 */

#include &lt;SoftwareSerial.h&gt;

SoftwareSerial mySerial(10, 11); // RX, TX

void setup() {
  // Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial) {
    ;
  }

  Serial.println("Goodnight moon!");

  // Set the data rate for the SoftwareSerial port
  mySerial.begin(115200);
  mySerial.println("Hello, world?");
}

void loop() {

  if (mySerial.available()) {
    Serial.write(mySerial.read());
  }
  if (Serial.available()) {
    mySerial.write(Serial.read());
  }
}