The Ports are "Quasi Bidirectional". No Data direction register like the PIC.
To use as inputs write 1's to the Port. As an output write 0 or 1. There is no input latch. You need to take care reading pins used as outputs (read-Modify-Write) if the output pin is doing some thing like driving a transistor. The read may not match the write. The Current drive is also less than a PIC. P0 is open drain, no internal pull ups.

If you go into the derivatives your mileage may vary.