oshonsoft's parallel port pic18 programming software programs all three of your 18F pics on a p16pro40, i've used it successfully with the 18F2550 and the 18F4550.
obviously you ultimately want to upgrade to an icd2 clone [inchworm+] but for now a simple 'tate' style programmer is easy to build and can be used by most free programmer software. good software includes winpicprog [see mr. goodwin] , icprog [has been a little temperemental for me], oshonsoft's pic16 and pic18 programmers . i use all three, dependant on chip model compatibility, but now immediately program with 'tinybootloader' which makes all subsequent programming so simple.