Today is another book day, we’ll have other guides about many different topics which have books and make great gifts – but today is about preocessing books! We consider these books some the best resources for learning processing! Why processing? We’ve found that it’s the best way for people who want to learn programming to get started, they’re instantly able to run free open source software on Win, Mac and Linux and they code they learn can easily be applied to learning Arduino later!
Getting Started with Processing by Casey Reas & Ben Fry
We get asked the following a lot from beginners “how do you learn how to program” and our answer is usually “try processing”. It’s open source, free to download, it has a massive community and the things you learn will help you with learning Arduino which is usually within the context we’re asked.
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.
Learning Processing: A Beginner’s Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction by Daniel Shiffman
This book teaches you the basic building blocks of programming needed to create cutting-edge graphics applications including interactive art, live video processing, and data visualization. A unique lab-style manual, the book gives graphic and web designers, artists, and illustrators of all stripes a jumpstart on working with the Processing programming environment by providing instruction on the basic principles of the language, followed by careful explanations of select advanced techniques.
Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists by Casey Reas, Ben Fry
It has been more than twenty years since desktop publishing reinvented design, and it’s clear that there is a growing need for designers and artists to learn programming skills to fill the widening gap between their ideas and the capability of their purchased software. This book is an introduction to the concepts of computer programming within the context of the visual arts. It offers a comprehensive reference and text for Processing (www.processing.org), an open-source programming language that can be used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and anyone who wants to program images, animation, and interactivity.
Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment by Ben Fry
Enormous quantities of data go unused or underused today, simply because people can’t visualize the quantities and relationships in it. Using a downloadable programming environment developed by the author, Visualizing Data demonstrates methods for representing data accurately on the Web and elsewhere, complete with user interaction, animation, and more.
How do the 3.1 billion A, C, G and T letters of the human genome compare to those of a chimp or a mouse? What do the paths that millions of visitors take through a web site look like? With Visualizing Data, you learn how to answer complex questions like these with thoroughly interactive displays. We’re not talking about cookie-cutter charts and graphs. This book teaches you how to design entire interfaces around large, complex data sets with the help of a powerful new design and prototyping tool called “Processing”.
Used by many researchers and companies to convey specific data in a clear and understandable manner, the Processing beta is available free. With this tool and Visualizing Data as a guide, you’ll learn basic visualization principles, how to choose the right kind of display for your purposes, and how to provide interactive features that will bring users to your site over and over.
Post up in the comments if there’s a book you like!
Lastly, if you want to support this great free open source project, get a shirt!
I have and can recommend Processing, Learning Processing and Visualizing Data.
Each text takes a slightly different approach to the topic of introducing the reader to Processing as a language.
“Learning Processing” is probably the better introductory read. Its relatively light, friendly in tone and encourages note taking, pencil marks and dog earring.
Processing is a dense read and is easily in the category of undergraduate textbook. Its best the second or third book in the path.
Visualizing Data is based on Ben Fry’s thesis and takes the approach that Processing can be considered a “visualization tool set.”
Whatever approach taken, get out a clean engineering or lab notebook, colored pens and pencils, download the latest copy of Processing, download all the examples.
If you really want to see where you can take Processing, pick up ANY of Edward Tufte’s books on how information can be conveyed in the most meaningful fashion to the reader.
Then grab a body of data and see how you can take a jumble of information and turn it into something both meaningful and potentially artful.
There are three different Processing t-shirts available now (there is a fourth from last year that’s out of print).
I’ve got all 3 and can recommend them – but pay attention to the size because they tend to run small. I missed out on the other one.
I also have the Cincinnati transit map shirt from the same place (not associated with Processing). It’s an “inside” joke since Cincinnati does not have the system represented on the shirt.