Programming CH32V003 - NO WCH LINKe

[ppTRN]

Hi everyone,
I recently bought a ch32v003 dev board, but I did not purchase a programmer (also by wch) because I thought it was just a usb to uart bridge.
Turned out it isn't. It uses a proprietary standard to program the device!
Do you guys know any easy way to program it in any other way or do you suggest to just buy a programmer?

Cheers!

Edit: typos

[Sacodepatatas]

The easiest way is to buy the programmer. It's about 5€ and comes cheaper if you buy the official set that included a proper dev board, 5 more ICs, and the programmer itself (be careful because you might be tempted to purchase the WCH-Link programmer. It isn't compatible, you need the WCH-LinkE version). But you have more alternatives. Although the SWIO interface is propietary, It is open so there are several implementations. Check out this link...

https://github.com/cnlohr/ch32v003fun

[ppTRN]

Thank you. I think I will eventually buy the programmer but I want to try use an arduino just for the sake of it.
The link you provided is very usefull.