Newbie: which microcontroller

Hi,

I would like to learn development in Microcontroller stuff.
Please would u guys suggest me where to start from?
like: which micorcontroller is the best and useful (8051, PIC, AVR) confuse
me alot. Pros and Cons.?
which kind of applications are more useful which what kind of
controller.
things like that.....

Or where can I find comparison charts for these microcontroller??

thanks in advance,

Bandu

 

Unless you choose the GNU C Compiler in the case of the AVR which is
freely available and is quite a good compiler. I've certainly been
very happy with it.

-Brian