How does upgrade checking work? I am new to Drupal. I first created my site in Drupal 7, but I had to use Drupal 6 because a lot of the modules I use were not ready yet.  Now I'm noticing more and more modules are having development releases for Drupal 7.

If I install a development release, will the upgrade manager notify me of updates once it's listed as the main module or will I need to switch to the main module to keep getting the notification?
If you install an official dev version (not a git checkout, but downloaded from the website), it has a date information. If there is a newer stable or dev version, you will be informed.

However, development releases are exactly that. Some work, some work well and others might not work at all.