Adi,
My suggestion is to start with (buy) a Basic Stamp.  The BS1 has a full
basic compiler, available for free, and it pretty much uses the same basic
that you are familiar.  They also have a BS2 that has more memory (2k) and
faster (20Mhz)  There is some differences than C-64 basic, but by getting
the APPLICATION Notes (Free), you can learn the flavor of basic.  I just
finished up a project using a commercial Basic compiler.  You can add
Assembler and Basic to accomplish any task.
  Without a background in C, you probably don't want to tackle it on the
Microcontroller level.  There are too many comprimises working on a small
platform.  I learned C on the IBM PC (Borland Turbo C). And then
transistioned over to the micro platform.
  Parallax has all the information you will want to break into the
microcontroller arena.  Don't think the Basic Stamps are toys.  They are
full fledged PIC Processors, with basic interpreters built into them.  They
contain, on a single module, a 4 Mhz Clock, EEPROM, RAM, and the PIC
Processor.  You use a basic compiler on a P.C. and then  plug in a cable
(Parallel cable for a BS1, and a Serial Cable for BS2), Upload the program
you wrote, disconnect the cable, reset, and the program runs.  Pretty neat, huh?
  Parallax makes a kit that contains a Stamp, an instruction book, a cable,
a carrier board, and instructions.  You can buy it from Digikey, Jameco, or
direct from Parallax.

  After that, you can buy a PICSTART programmer, and program directly to a
PIC.  More work, but you can then mass produce your project.  I just read
that for the BS1 Stamp, there is a feature to upload the program directly to
a One Time programmable PIC Micro.   That means, you can use your Stamp as a
development system, and then download it to a cheap ($5-$7) One Time
Programmable chip.
check out Parallax webpage. www.parallaxinc.com

  This is my opinion.

  Good Luck...Eric




At 06:58 PM 2/13/98 +0000, you wrote:
>I'd like to do some high level language programming on the PIC. Am I
>better off using C or BASIC? I have no prior C experience but did
>some BASIC programming on a Commodore 64 15 years ago. I have no
>experience doing anything for a PC but I'd like to do that too some
>time...
>
>Thanks,
>Adi
>
>