THe book I mention covers onle the PIC BASIC compiler. They start the book by saying that you need only that , but once you work with PIC BASIC PRO (PBP) you see how much better it is. I know they want a lot for their program, not much that can be done there........or can there?

What happens is that PIC BASIC Compiler is a lite version of the other compiler PBP. With PBP you can address any register of the PIC buy just writing to the register's name, like TRISA = 0. To be able todo that in PICBASIC you need to define a variable as a memory location for register TRISA. Then you have to Poke the register, with the value you need to sent INPUTS/OUTPUTS.

And there are a ton more of changes. Don't get me wrong you can do a lot with PICBASIC, but you can do much more with PBP, among other you can do with PBP easier:

Analog to Digital Conversions - ADCIN
Writting to a LCD - LCDOUT
Hardware PWM- HPWM
Hardware Serial - Hserin

There is a comparasion here: <url>http://www.melabs.com/products/comp_pro.htm</url>

Good Luck

Ivancho