On 2010-03-13 11:14, HuwD wrote:
>
> I'm new at using Microcontrollers. I'm interested in using them in Robotics
> and bought a book called "PIC Robotics". The software the book recommends is
> the "PIC Basic compiler". However it appears to come on a 3.5 inch floppy
> disk and uses the either the serial or parrallel port on the PC to interface
> with the Microcontroller. This seems a little antiquated and I was wandering
> if there was anything more recent and ideally free to download. I would also
> be good if I could connect to the microcontroller via USB.
>
> Whats the best current software for programming the PIC Microcontroller?

What is the best car ?
What is the best newspaper ?
What icecreem is the best ?

I'd say that "it depends"...

But, in many cases, it might simply be MPLAB from Microchip.
Then you need some programming hardware, maybe PICkit2 or PICkit3.
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