I will start a microcontroller course on college, and i must choose one among these:18F2420, 2520, 4420, 4520, 8051, 8031. Also, i need to select a compiler/simulator to work with the PIC.

Obs: my programming skill is very basic (MATLAB and Python)

 

Microchip already provides you the MPLABX IDE with the compilers needed to program the MCU.
You need to be able to program using C or MPASM languages.

I think your professor already will guide you to the right MCU to start with.
It's better to ask him about the MCU part number.

 

PIC16F877

 

PIC18F46K22

 

If programming in Assembly there is some advantages in going to the 18F series.
Max.

 

I will start a microcontroller course on college, and i must choose one among these:18F2420, 2520, 4420, 4520, 8051, 8031. Also, i need to select a compiler/simulator to work with the PIC.

Obs: my programming skill is very basic (MATLAB and Python)

This is like asking what is the best flavor of ice cream.

There is no one answer. You select a microcontroller based on your current needs. Most manufactures have a parametric search.

That said, the Aruduio is and easy to use micro with lots of plug in modules and support.

 

PIC18F4520 on a Microchip Curiosity HPC board. Cheap and comes with a full debugger/programmer. Accepts many other PICs

 

I will start a microcontroller course on college, and i must choose one among these:18F2420, 2520, 4420, 4520, 8051, 8031. Also, i need to select a compiler/simulator to work with the PIC.

Obs: my programming skill is very basic (MATLAB and Python)

Which one of those you choose would depend on just what you are doing with it.

Presumably, if the course instructor is requiring you to select one from among that specific set of devices, then any one of them is adequate for doing everything you will be doing in that course. So you might consider which is the cheapest, which has the most attractive development board, which one has the fewest resources (so that you have less to mess with), which one has the most resources (so that you have more to play with), which one is being used by the most students (so that you can learn together more easily), or any of several other factors that will be somewhat unique to you.

Which one is "best" depends entirely upon what set of metrics are important to YOU in deciding whether Choice A is "better" than Choice B.

 

I second the curiosity board. Those things are the baby steps to the PIC ecosystem.
Also, looking at your choices, only one of those appears to be a pic number, and thats the 18F2420.
PicKit 3 a breadboard and that chip would work. Or you could research which Curiosity board is compatable with that chip, and then buy that, and the chip, and have the circuit all set up for you already, almost straight to software.