Make: Getting Started with Processing: A Quick, Hands-on Introduction

by Casey Reas, Ben Fry

Learn computer programming the easy way with Processing, a simple language that lets you use code to create drawings, animation, and interactive graphics. Programming courses usually start with theory, but this book lets you jump right into creative and fun projects. It's ideal for anyone who wants to learn basic programming, and serves as a simple introduction to graphics for people with some programming skills. Written by the founders of Processing, this book takes you through the learning process one step at a time to help you grasp core programming concepts. You'll learn how to sketch with code -- creating a program with one a line of code, observing the result, and then adding to it. Join the thousands of hobbyists, students, and professionals who have discovered this free and educational community platform.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Design, Technology, Computers, Reference

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2010

About the author

Casey Reas is Professor of Design Media Arts at UCLA and coauthor of Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists (MIT Press, 2007).

Reviews

[Dgg32 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, nice introduction to a very versatile programming language. But if I want to put Processing further into good use, I should read some about its application in that. I know O'Reilly has a book "Visualizing Data", written by Fry, so it can be served as a in-depth exploration of Processing.

[José · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una introducción simple pero entretenida a Processing y básica en programación. Se realizo tomando como ejemplo Getting Started with Arduino, se compone de teoría con ejemplos prácticos, que por jugar principalmente con la generación de gráficos e interacción humano-programa hace muy llevadero el aprendizaje.

[Ulee ☄︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covered all the basics for learning to use Processing. I couldn't find anything wrong with the book so it gets all 5 stars.

[Alfi · Rating 3 out of 5]

My lectures at school suggest this book for learning Processing. I read some parts of it, and I read this already couple times. If you are new at programming, maybe this book suite you.

[Scott Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ahmad Almansoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended

This book is a great tool to get started with programming in general.
I bought this book, initially,just to learn how to visualize data from Arduino (the last chapter in the book). However I found myself in love with Processing and what it can do.

The examples are easy to follow and well explained.

[Yokusun Basi]

Make: Getting Started with Processing by Casey Reas (2010)

[Ravi Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Processing is an amazing language. Powerful abstractions make it easy to draw interactive graphics with only a handful of lines of code. I used to think it only supports a Java-like syntax, but the Processing editor seems to indicate that I can add a JavaScript or Python 'mode' as well (not tested). The book itself is very neat, and eases you into working knowledge of Processing through small albeit concrete code examples. A pleasure to work through, and you should be able to finish the book in 4-5 hours if you have some coding experience. Relatively basic, but a great stepping stone to more attractive stuff like Generative Design.

[John Orman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Processing is a simple computer programming language that lets one use code to create drawings, animation, and interactive graphics.

This book is easy to study, and lets you jump right in to create some fun projects useful in learning computer graphics.

The Arduino open source prototyping platform is used to develop the codes. I used that to quickly write a simple program that generated a small image. So this all works!

[Solomon Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction to the drawing tools in Processing and its fundamental language constructs. Very, very little about creating user interfaces in Processing, which was what I was hoping to get from it.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent introduction, well paced with clear examples.

[Микола · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудова книжка для початку.

[Rebekah Monson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro and examples, but I wanted more information almost immediately. The higher-level work is entirely missing.

[Fabrizio Bianchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good introduction not only to Processing, but to programming in general.
Should be used in schools.

[John Terning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy introduction to a surprisingly powerful language.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that much depth

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read and understand. Lots of good example code.

[Harshini Nawarathna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for the beginners to start programming in processing