In my experience, a better approach for the "kid"
would be to get a bootloader burned into a pic and go
from there.   

I got a robot kit for my 10 year old.  It came with a
boot loader in the 16F877 and was a really good way
for him to go.  

If he gets serious about programming PICs, he can move
up to a programmer later.
 
--- Olin Lathrop <olin_piclist@embedinc.com> wrote:
> James Newton, Host wrote:
> > Where can a kid get a PIC loaded with a HEX file
> for whatever so he
> > doesn't have to build a programmer to get started
> with robots or
> > whatever?
> 
> If you only need this done once or twice, you can
> probably find someone
> local with a programmer.  However, if the kid is
> developing a real
> application, he's going to need access to
> programming regularly.  In that
> case building a low cost programmer is a worthwhile
> investment and a lot
> less hassle and frustration than regularly trying to
> get someone else to
> program a PIC for you.
> 
> Wouter's Wisp or my EasyProg
> (http://www.embedinc.com/products) might be
> suitable.  An EasyProg bare board is cheap, and you
> can cut parts costs by
> not using a ZIF socket.  Or if the kid's parents
> want to encourage his PIC
> explorations, they could spring for the full kit and
> have the kid learn
> something while he puts it together.  When I was in
> late grade school and
> high school my parents knew I'd always be delighted
> with a Heathkit as a
> present.
> 
> 
>
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