0x53 I wholeheartedly agree
Techinx If you are serious about learning about PIC mcu then I applaud your ambition, I see from your other EEVblog posts ( why a different thread ? ) you seem very capable , It just depends how deep you want to go with the learning PIC process . Plan A … buy a board and fill it with someone else’s code have a project up and running in hours, and learned very little.
Plan B. Put a PIC16Fxxxx on a board. With a pickit 2 or 3, Nice steady power supply (not usb ) Have the PIC Data sheet and any errata on hand . Install MPLAB 8.x gather example code Ready , steady … Go
In assembler code ….
Flash a led.
Read a switch or key pad.
“Hello world” on a LCD
Save / read data to PIC EE
Make a digital alarm clock.
Make a thermometer ( with and without ADC )
Communicate to a PC.
Save data to an I2C eeprom.
Control a DC motor speed.
Control a stepper motor.
Etc etc …be creative…
Project Problems … Post here , 1000 of EE’s ready to help .
This will be a solid foundation and you will now be ready for advanced code bigger and better PIC’s
You could do this with a 16F72 but its a little ancient as a starting device.
I did plan B aged 55 and I am still learning 16 years on.
Good luck, don’t think you will need it.