I am using a breadboard and a very cheap programmer(took me 20 hours of websurfing to find one that I could buy all the parts at radioshack).
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/arch...php/t-703.html
You will need a data sheet for your particular pic.
PGD = data
PGC = clock
Vss = ground
Vpp/Vdd = power
All you need is a serial plug and some wire and registers.
Software is
http://www.ic-prog.com/
I prefer the 18F series chips because the C18 compiler is readily available. Unless you want to program in assembly, then you can get any pic.
Just order a sample pack(up to 15 chips) umm....chips
To date I have only ordered one sample pack with 12 16f series chip and 3 18f series. A good free compiler for the 16f series has been hard to find.
Another big plus for 18F series is that you can easily use the code written by Kevin Watson, with a few modifications.
In fact, I looked through the IFI default code to understand the structure and impliment it into my pic.