Yeah, use Microchip's compiler and MPLAB.
Why the PIC32? It's kind of a "bleeding edge". The problem here is they're still quite expensive and only come in fine-pitch SMD pkgs which are hard to mount. They take a lot of current at full speed and have an unfortunately high SLEEP current that can cause problems for battery operation. More of a problem, there's just not a large body of software and code designed specifically for it.
Fine IF you need it. If you want to build typical amateur projects, it's unlikely there is a need for its features and thus it could be a bad choice. PIC18F series does a LOT and it's very well supported. There are certainly high pin count PIC18's, if you need a high pincount device for something.
The dsPIC33 series is great for a bit more "punch". The 16-bit architecture and the DSP core can do things you just can't do with an 18F like audio processing, and do it very well. And there's lots of code available to do neat things with the DSP core. But the PIC32, I'm just having a hard time seeing what an amateur would need it for. The 32-bit architecture won't mean much for typical users. In fact, lacking a DSP core, it's not as capable as the dsPIC33 series for many "neat" apps.