A little stuck with the junebug

Triode said:

I know theres a help thread for this, but that was focusing on some other topics so i felt like it was thread jacking to throw this in there. (Id just like to note that when I say I'm stuck, i dont mean theres a problem with the junebug itself, it was fun and easy to put together and get up and running)

So I've built my junebug, it connects to the PC and is recognized just fine. Theres just a few small things I'm trying to figure out at the moment.

first, what controlls weather I am programming the onboard pic, or one plugged into the strip at the top? Is the onboard one just programed in experimenter mode?
There are three signals used to program a PIC MCLR (reset and hi voltage for programming), PGC (program clock), and PGD (program data). When DIP switch 1 2 and 3 are closed these signals are connected to the onboard target chip (onboard PIC). To program a PIC using the ICSP connector on the edge of the PCB you must open DIP switches 1 2 and 3. If you do not it will talk to both chips at once and become confused.

If there is an online thing that explains all the modes of the junebug just direct me to that and I should be good. I don't quite understand the meaning of the table in the manual that says what all the switches on the dip switch do.

Check Bill's site. Read the docs on the Junebug then read the online JPUG's. They show examples of C, Basic, and ASM for the C18.

secondly, I'm a bit unsure which language I should work on learning at this point, I am well versed in C++ and Visual basic, so I could probably pic up basic or C for pic chips pretty easily. But the version of C18 that comes with the free version of MPLAB says its expired (i guess its reading the install date from an older install before I even tried to use it) Download the student version of C18. After 60 days the generated code is less optimized but that is not a problem.

Swordfish basic looks nice, but I haven't started learning it yet and the free version says it limits the amount of ram you can use, so i would be starting from square one.

Swordfish is nice but if you can program in C++ or C I would use it.

And then CSS C is kinda good for me because I've used it before. I guess I'm looking for input on which one is easiest to learn and use,
I started with the CCS compiler and it is a good one. But they require you to pay for each family. And their header files are some more unique then usual.
I know theres no best programming language, but i do have criteria, as for the language itself, all I want is that it works with some 18F pics, obviously a lot of them would be good, but the main thing I need is usability, as in, good documentation, few glitches and headachs, and a good base of existing users and code.

BoostC is another good compiler. It is less then $100 which makes it very attractive.

Overall I think you find find the support for C to be quite good on this forum. If you are going to use Basic I suggest swordfish.

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