Have to use windoze from time to time (usb osc sw works only on windoze, easyPic4 can be programmed only from windoze ... go my self a pickit2 but never tried it out from linux) so I in general use vi on linux to write program and then C18 if 18F.. or mikroC if 16F .. to compile
futz, have you manage to get some "good" gui for develop/compile/program on linux .. anything I tried was just not "worth it" .. not to mention that I never tried gcc for pic
.. should do it, and compare the asm output from mikroC/C18/CSCC and GCC .. might get interesting results
.. if you know of any IDE .. (like eclipse plugins or some other app), please enlighten me
- I have piklab, but never managed to get anything done using it
mine advice for the uaefame would be more/less what anyone said
- use C
- learn both C and ASM, you will need them both
- for 18F use C18 c compiler from microchip, most of the examples and app notes are written init, it is free and pretty much good. The microchip ide is pretty nice and easy to work with, and you can program directly from the ide using pickit2 or junebug or many other programmers
- for 12F, 16F ... you will not find any "cheep&good" compiler, I personally use mikroC and CSC C ... both are very good and both cost ~100E, there is also swordfish C but I never tried it hence I cannot compare it to these two (purchased mikroC as it is local company and then got CSC C with some dev kit I purchased for USB FT* ...)
In general, you will have to use ASM inside C application in many cases when some precision or speed is needed, whatever C compiler you decide to use, make sure
- it has good support (forum, knowledge base, example base)
- it has "community"
- does it integrates with your "ide" (for e.g. mikroC uses its own ide, does not integrates with microchip tools, cannot program using pickit2... CSC C has own ide that is great but also integrates into microchip tools)
- what libraries you get and in what "form" (for e.g. mikroC has libraries for "almost everything" but all libraries are closed source and you cannot modify them, CSC C gets with less libraries but they are all in source and you can modify them to better suit you)
and then, learn the tricks for that C compiler. Compile some simple code snippets and look at the asm output .. for example the for loop or even single IF .. function call too ... for example, simple function call will take from 9 to 25 instructions depending on the compiler, or even things like "a = !a", this will be 1/2/3/4 instructions depending on the compiler, it is good to know and somethimes important to know things like that.
hope this helps