PIC

Arizona Microchip manufacture a varieties of PIC microcontroller series. PIC has three main groups:

1. 8-bit 
2. 16-bit
3. and 32-bit

Some DIP Package PIC devices that I posses.

Each group has its own sub-type that I don't list them here.

MPLABX is the current development integrated development environment. XC compiler is a C compiler for their embedded controllers. XC compiler has three levels:

1. XC8 for 8-bit PIC
2. XC16 for 16-bit PIC and DSC
3. XC32 for 32-bit PIC    

XC has three versions:

• Free
• Standard 
• and Pro

For hobbyists or students, using a free version of XC is common. The standard and pro version have code optimization and technical supports.

Some third party C compiler are custom computer service (CCS) PICC, Mikroelectronika MikroC etc.

CCS PICC offers a free version using the baseline PIC. MikroC offer a free version of using the program memory of PIC below 2 KB.

PIC16F887