Well said Henrik! If you aren't willing to spend some time with the data sheet and learn how to use the cool stuff on the newer PICs, just stick with your antiquated "Model T's" and do what you can. As Henrik said, most of the built-in peripherals require manually manipulating SFRs anyways. PBP commands regarding SPI and I2C (and I think PWM commands) aren't even using the built-in peripherals but accomplishing the functionality with software.

One of the most prolific contributors to the PBP community was the late Daryl Taylor. He was not the creator of PBP; he got involved after PBP was somewhat mature. He learned ASM by writing PBP code, then opening the .asm file to see what PBP did. In every data sheet is an Instruction Summary that lists the ASM commands and what they effectively do. You wouldn't need to become a master ASM programmer to learn enough to follow the bouncing ball. As for C code (XC8), with the exception of the "printf" type commands, you'd be surprised how much of it makes sense when you look at it. Of course, you'll never know until you try. Live life on the edge, my friend!