Just to note the AMICUS compiler I mentioned is FREE and the file it produces is a HEX for 18F25K20 ,, the hardware is open. you don't have to buy an AMICUS board ,, you could etch your own or just stick a 18K25K20 into a breadboard , compile your Hex in AMICUS compiler and just drop it on the chip with your programmer. Even the boot-loader HEX is downloadable so you don't even need the PicKit3 if you get a friend to drop the boot-loader onto the chip.
You can start out for next to nothing and if you fry the chip ,, well you only fry a $2 chip and not a $100/$500 dev system.
If your wanting to do everything for nothing and learn without working upwards from the basics ,,, forget it.
A lot of my dev work is on 32Bit ARM micros now, but I started with the simple 555 timer and logic gates up to 8bit 6502 and Zilog Z80 CPU's and PIC micros THEN onto ARM.
I learned to program in basic , then assembler on 6502. Basic is more readable and easier to understand for a new player imho.
Now I use C#/C/C++ not fun languages for beginners if you know nothing about programming.
watch the EEVBLOG maybe the PSU design video will give you a taste for what its all about
http://www.eevblog.com/2011/11/28/eevblog-221-lab-power-supply-design-part-1/
Dave has about 282 videos all about electronics I highly recommend them all stuff I am very familiar but still enjoy his blog. check out how he learned and got into electronics
https://www.electronicspoint.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1468784
sound familiar
I don't like Aurdrino myself but thats a personal thing ,, not fond on ATMEL's and not fussed buy their viral nature (every blinky light project , hey lets shot in an aurdrino) they are often used like sledgehammers to crack an awfully weak egg , when a simple logic chip could do the same for fraction of the price.
To be honest if you know nothing about electronics yet I'd suggest reading a few books, learning ,Ohms Law, knowing how a transistor works,a diode, resistor ,capacitor, building a few 4000 series logic projects. Do some 555timer flashing leds because If your struggling to afford a single aurdrino board or a MyAmicus I think you will be in for a shock. I almost grantee your gonna blow a few of them , I still pop the occasional dev board after all these years and the ones I use aren't aurdrino cheap. Hell I cooked a $800 transmitter only a couple of days ago. I wasn't happy of-course and could have avoided it ,, but accident happen even when you have been at it a long time.
http://www.useusa.co.uk/product.php?id_product=56148
I learned a lot on a kit like this as a kid ,, blew nearly half the components but they are a fantastic way to learn the basics you go through all the circuits in the book learning the fundamentals as you go ,, then once your done with them you make your own circuits.
Sometimes you WILL get it wrong and smoke a 25 cent transistor or capacitor and everything you learn is directly relocatable to micros, current limits, reading and understanding the datasheets for the devices.
So when you are confident enough to move onto your shiny new micro dev board , you will already know to drive a relay from your micro pin for example, you will need a transistor and a back emf diode, because you learned all that on your basic components board, drop a relay on an output without understanding and the output or whole chip will go pop, no satisfaction just blue smoke. Input driven above VCC yay same result.
