[Master Answer Logo]
Question

PIC programming?

Answer

Third parties make C and BASIC language compilers for PICs. Microchip also sells compilers for the high-end PICs ("C18" for the 18F series and "C30" for the dsPICs). They also make available for download a "student edition/demo" version of C18 or C30 which disables some optimiser features after a timeout period. Open-source compilers for the C, Pascal, JAL, BASIC, and for the Forth programming language, PicForth, have also been released.

— Source: Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)