Like Queenidog, I occasionally look at other available options. Just looking at PIC, I compared the PBP package to Microchip's MPLAB X using CX8, and a few other things. I stay with PBP because I am comfortable with the language, first and foremost. Microchip charges $995 for their XC8, but they support it with a plethora of prefab turn-key plug-ins and code generating wizards. If you have issues, they have their forum. I saw posts where folks tried getting ahold of a live human being at Microchip for support and it was almost funny. Charles Leo (MELabs) takes my calls, answers my emails, and supports PBP very well in most areas. He is mostly a one-man show. The fact that we got the K40's in a relatively short period of time is a testament to his tenacity. As I type, he is nose-to-the-grindstone preparing the next PBP3.1.x update to include K42 and a couple other tweaks. Looking at other available options, $269 for PBP3.1 seems to be very well spent money.

With that said, I stay with PIC because Microchip keeps up-to-date with new features and new products. PIC is extremely competitive in today's MCU market. I engineer entire projects, so putting a 20-pin MCU on my board makes more sense than interfacing a daughter board (Audrino or RPi). A friend of mine that has worked at an engineering level with analog electronics since the early 1970s finally took the plunge and bought something Audrino. He couldn't fully express just how proud he was that he could control a stepper motor; adding I couldn't possibly know how difficult it was, much harder than I'd think. I gave him the verbal pat on the back, thinking how PIC has Enhanced CCP that makes it rather simple.

Go the direction that makes the most sense to you. I love the PIC/PBP package. I just wanted to share a few thoughts.