Basic Question about PICBASIC

I am new to all of this programming and seemed to have figured out a lot from the web about PIC's, programming, compiling, etc. My question concens how PICBASIC works with PMLABS? I understand that PICBASIC is used to write and then compile a program but then it is passed to MPLAB which then you can simulate and then have it write a hex file? From there you can then use MPLAB to load the program into a PIC, right? I guess my confusion is not understanding the interaction between the 2 programs and also the very steep learning curve of having to learn and understand 2 different programs. I have already purchased PICBASIC and have downloading the latest version of MPLABS but now I am trying to figure out how to bridge the gap that seems to exist between PICBASIC and MPLABS. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

1 Bridge, coming Up.

http://www.mecanique.co.uk/code-studio/

Darrel