And now he needs a programmer, instructions to download software, install, select microcontroller, compile your code, build a circuit so he can connect programmer to the chip, transfer said code to the PIC, then build the circuit you propose.
I'm not sure it is easier than using a few extra non-programmable parts. At the price of a PicKit, it certainly won't be cheaper.
You certainly have a point and I expected somebody to raise that issue. I think that it all depends how you look at and the specifics of the individual's current and future needs...and interests.
On the face of it, however, it is certainly on-topic with regard to the TS's request.
I need a schematic circuit for a timer. I want it to power a relay for one second about 5 to 10 seconds after power is applied to the circuit. Any suggestions? Thanks.
1. "now he needs a programmer" - Yep, and he can expect to use it over and over again. If it is a modern programmer, let's say a PICKIT-4 he can pay some $40 is it? (maybe $30 on sale?). In that case, he can use it to program pretty much any pic around...and I think it has some debugging functions. If he can settle for a PICKIT3 [clone maybe] it is under $20 **broken link removed** and there are programmers for under $10, like this one **broken link removed**.
Of course, he can build one.
2. "instructions to download software, install, select microcontroller, compile your code" Again, yes, but that does not sound particularly brutal but does involve some clicking and cutting and pasting.
3. "build a circuit so he can connect programmer to the chip" Umm no, he simply makes the connections from the programmer to the PIC with no ther components - no need to do "in-circuit programming".
4. "then build the circuit you propose." Well, yeah, but he has to build the circuit that anyone proposes.
Here are some advantages. He can change from 5 sec after power up to 15 sec or 60 sec after power up in just a few minutes and then go back to 5 sec or 2 sec and so on and so forth...using the same 10F202. The same goes for the duration of relay on time. If he doesn't know exactly what those delays need to be in the end, he has a great deal of flexibility.
He can also specify those delays with a good deal of accuracy if he needs to - e.g., 12.3 seconds is really no more difficult than 12.0 seconds.
Then he could add more to it, if he wanted to, because he has unused GPIO (including some kind of safety feature to determine if the relay is stuck?).
For expense...well a pic10f202 is what, 50 cents? If he buys a $10 programmer and makes 20 such projects...or similar ones...he is down to a buck a chip. The software can be free and includes an non-noptimized C compiler and a decent assembler and IDE (there are other options apart from Microchip).
But that is just for simple 10f202 projects - as you well know, there are a whole lot of other projects that can be done with a whole lot of different pics.
Again, I think that it depends on the individual's current and future needs (and whether they have any interest in a hardware programming approach, of course). So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it
BTW:
Although #pragma config MCLRE = OFF, config CP = OFF, WDTE = OFF builds and programs fine [mplabxide 5.05, xc8 1.45] it is supposed to be
#pragma config MCLRE = OFF, CP = OFF, WDTE = OFF