Hi Rick! I'm using C. The build environment is MPLab:
MPLab Integrated Development Environment
Student Compiler
The microcontroller is the dsPIC30F4011. You can use the student version of the software, which I guess isn't quite as fancy as the $800 version, but works just fine. I think it doesn't allow the optimizations to be turned on, but it doesn't seem to matter at all. The chip is only like 8% full, and there's not much to compute.