Ben Fry

Processing is a computer language that is well-adapted to creating graphics. Its target audiences are hobbyists and professionals who are not full-time developers but who want to produce quality graphics. As the title implies, this book introduces the reader to the concepts it takes to get started. No extensive programming experience is required.

The programming environment to produce Processing graphics is accessible via a free download. This book provides plenty of examples to excite the imagination. The reader should be able to take the beginnings here, combine them with freely available software, and modify them to create a worthwhile product.

The biggest thing that I wish for is a way to integrate Processing with web programming environments, the type of environment I work with. I have been able to dig around to see that such things might exist. Processing.js seems to exist to map Processing commands to JavaScript and thus to a website. Unfortunately, this book does not take the reader that far. It only introduces the reader to the language and talks about adapting it to the niche use of electronics with Arduino.

Overall, contemporary computer graphics need a dominant language to fill the gap between primitive languages like OpenGL in C and GUI-driven programs like Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, Adobe Illustrator, and Inkscape. I’m not certain that Processing will succeed in filling that space in the marketplace, but it seems to be making the attempt. Come either success or failure, the attempt is appreciated, and the authors deserve to be commended on their accomplishment.… (mer)

Good introduction to graphic programming, clearly aimed at first-time programmers with plenty of basic 'ok, this is a variable, this is a loop, etc'. The book's stated aim is to introduce artists to the idea of programming as art- I'm a bit skeptical on whether or not they've made it accessible to the average non-programmer. But, then, I stopped being able to judge whether material is techically accessible to laypeople years ago, so your mileage may vary.

Useful for the experienced programmer with little graphics experience (me!), provided you skim/skip the basic programming constructs sections. Also easily adaptable to other language implementations of Processing if you hate Java: I used the examples with little trouble in ruby-processing.… (mer)