Processing A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists [Hardcover]

"Processing, the handbook and tutorial, is an indispensable companion to Processing, the integrated programming language and environment that has developed from phenomenon to revolution. Bridging the gap between programming and visual arts, the Processing handbook, in a concise way, connects software elements to principles of visual form, motion, and
interaction. The book's modular structure allows for different combinations of its units and self-directed reading. Interviews with artists who create software-based works and extension chapters that expand software practice
into computer vision, sound, and electronics successfully connect the realms of art and technology. Now used by artists, visual designers, and in educational institutions around the world, Processing has been groundbreaking not only as an alternative language for expanding programming
space, but as an attempt to nurture programming literacy in the broader context of art and cultural production." -- -Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art

"This is an elegant and practical introduction to programming for artists and designers. It is rigorously grounded, informed by a vast amount of practical experience, and visually compelling. The worked examples are terrific. There's no better starting point for visual artists who want to learn how to think computationally, or for programmers who want to give visual and spatial expression to their ideas."
-- -William J. Mitchell, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, MIT

"Why did we have to wait so long for this marvellous gem? It is, indeed, rare to find a technical book of such clarity and insight and especially so in books concerning computer programming. I've grappled with many programming books over the years in an effort to teach myself programming and none come close to Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists. Casey Reas and Ben Fry are to be congratulated on two counts. Firstly, for writing this 710 page comprehensive book, and secondly for producing the associated open-source programming language software, also called Processing, which is a companion to the book so to speak...The Processing language was written specifically for visual artists and designers whether they be interested in producing still images, animation or interactivity using their own programming efforts, rather than relying on commercially available software applications. For those artists who use computers in their work and like to have control at a fundamental level this book will be a revelation and worth every cent it costs. I was stunned at how few lines of code are required to produce complex images, one such example is a colour wheel. The software comes loaded with numerous examples of what can be achieved with Processsing using existing modules of code...Processing gets results fast, seems to be naturally intuitive and due to Reas and Fry's brilliance, easy to learn...This book is so well thought out and referenced it is quite astonishing. For example, there is a general Index and Code index. Numerous Appendices cover such basic, though important topics such as, code comparisons, reserved code words and programming languages. There is even a table of contents, then a Contents by Category and further, and Extended Contents section. These sections enable the reader to quickly find exactly what they are looking for without ploughing through the whole book sequentially... I cannot recommend this book highly enough, all I wish is that it was written 10 years ago. I'm sure, like me, many artists who have wanted to experiment with computer control and programming for artistic projects have been frustrated to the limit by poorly written, obscurely referenced and inappropriate programming books and languages. This book remedies all this and is even very reasonably priced. All I can say to Casey Reas and Ben Fry is - Thank you. -- - Leonardo Reviews, Rob Harle, December 2007

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). Ben Fry earned his Ph.D. at the MIT Media Laboratory and is a designerin Cambridge, Massachusetts. John Maeda is President of Rhode Island School of Design and former Associate Director of the MIT Media Lab. In 2008 Esquire magazine named Maeda one of the 75 most influential people of the twenty-first century. He is the author of The Laws of Simplicity (MIT Press, 2006) and other books.