I use CC5X and really like it.
CC5X sometimes gets a bad rap because it has some non-standard extensions and omisions. But, for writing 8-bit PIC programs it is easier than fully standard C without extensions.
It has some limitations, the worst of which, from my point of view, is that it doesn't handle complex expresions....where complex isn't really very complex. For example, it only allows one array subscript operation per statement, so things like:
x = a + b[j];
can't be coded.
Mike