Getting Started with a PIC16, Specifically, a PIC16f18326, by Mattia Maldini @ medium.com:
Today I’m going to make a quick tutorial on how to program a bare PIC16, specifically the PIC16f18326. No demo boards and no USB cable, just the MCU, a breadboard and a dedicated programmer.
One of the main reasons for this tutorial is the new MPLAB SNAP programmer. Up until about a year ago the cheapest option to program a PIC device was the PicKit3, sitting at the abundant price of ~40 Euros — far from the typical budget for an hobbist to get started. The SNAP finally fills that hole by coming as cheap as 13 Euros while keeping most of the functionality. It’s still pricey when compared to low-end options from competitors (I’m thinking about the 2 Euros ST-Link programmers), but an improvement nonetheless. You can grab one from Microchip’s official store.
Getting Started with a PIC16 programming – [Link]