Has anyone tried or built a PIC board that works with Philips and AVR. There is one I'm interested in called the PICAll. It goes for about $60.This sounds like a good starting rig, but so does a home brew'd concoction that would cost me $5.
I just bought Myke Predko's PIC programming book that comes with a PCB. I just need to gather the parts and solder some components. This should be a good starting point as well as a good first project.
Something I was wondering about was the programming software/language that is used for MCU's. It seems as though the software that will accompany the book uses assembly or basic, (which I dont know) but can I get another program (free) in which I can use C/C++ (which I know)