Best approach for PIC programming I need to do
You can use both C and Assembler. High end devices are optimized for C, they have a C architecture inside.

PIC16F18323 is best with assembler, but since the C XC8 compiler from Microchip is very good, there will be almost no difference in the result.

MPLAB X(10) is the used software(IDE) today, its very bulky, but its good. You can combine it with the Microchip free compilers XC8(8bit MCUs), XC16(16bit MCUs), XC32(32bit MCUs)

If you want you can install the XC8 compiler without the Mplab IDE and use a notepad editor.

https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/PIC16F18323