Customer Reviews

Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (Foundation)

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3 star:		(1)
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This is a very good book on the Processing language, which is an object-oriented languaged based on Java that is used for computer art. It allows computer artists to produce attractive computer-generated art without having to become experts on the Java language, Java3D, Java2D, and all of the other associated Java multimedia APIs. The Processing language's home page has considerable tutorial information, but it is not organized in a tutorial format as this book is. The book starts out in the first few chapters talking about "code art" including a brief mention of various "code artists". It then goes on to talk about the origin and basics of the Processing language. Chapter 5 is the most helpful of the chapters in part one, since it discusses the actual environment of working with the Processing language including the various programming modes and rendering modes.

Part two is very practical and useful, as it illustrates how to actually draw shapes, work with various color and imaging styles, and even includes chapters on building interactive art, programming motion, and working in 3D. There is also a short chapter on object-oriented programming in the middle of this section, but it is rather brief and if you are unfamiliar with the topic you are going to need outside sources. The format of the chapters in part two is to discuss what you are trying to accomplish, show and discuss the Processing code for performing the task, and show an illustration of what your final piece of computer art should look like.

Part three is a reference on the Processing language itself that also includes an appendix consisting of various mathematics equations you will need when working with geometric figures. If you already know Java, as I do, this book makes learning the Processing language a breeze. If you don't already know Java or at least programming in an object-oriented language, this book might be more difficult. Note that there is an extra appendix and an extra chapter available online that is not in the printed book itself. These chapters are "3D Rendering in Java Mode" and "Integrating Processing within Java".

I picked this book up on impulse while about halfway thru the other book "Processing: A Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists". They seemed like books that were too similar, but they are not. This book is aimed more at the individual, whereas the other seems to be aimed more at a classroom (yet is also an excellent book). The amount of exercises and experiments is massive. The book opens up assuming you have never touched a computer language before, however it's easy to jump ahead if you have experience. The book is also hardcover, making it a nice object to hold and read. As the book progresses, it becomes more of an encyclopedia than a tutorial, therefore should stay useful for years to come. As a former artist-tuned-web developer, Processing has saved my life from mundane coding, and this book provided much of the inspiration. I have also recommended this book to non-artistic coders looking to expand their graphic and artistic skills.

I teach Flash Actionscript at an Art College in Pasadena, and I am sometimes asked by my students for a good book to introduce them to programming fundamentals. Until I encountered this book, I was at a loss to find a good one, because so many programming books assume the reader already knows the fundamentals, and don't take the creative personality into account.

This is the book I was looking for. It's not about actionscript, but that doesn't matter, as Processing is an even better choice as a first programming language for creative people. Once you learn the fundamentals of programming, learning things like Flash actionscript becomes much easier.

The thing I like about this book is that it concentrates on making computer art, it has good tutorials on basic computer programming, computer graphics concepts, and it understands that its core audience is likely to be math phobic (due to the horrible math experiences so many of us have had in schools).

If there's a flaw, it's that the author is a little to anxious to share some extremely advanced scripts a little too early in the book. First time readers should skip over this stuff, because much simpler stuff is on the way. The book will reward skipping around and rereading. I also recommend getting another book on the same subject, such as the Reas and Fry processing book, and perhaps one of John Maeda's books.

I have purchased literally hundreds of books from Amazon, this is the first one I felt compelled enough to write a quick review on.

I have been developing software for over 25 years, I am also formally trained as an artist. I discovered Processing a few months back, and it has been an incredible find. I wanted to learn as much as I could, so I started buying some books.

I was concerned that since I already understood all of the fundamental and advanced programming concepts that I would find the book trivial and just a re-hash of what I already knew. I was mistaken, and I am so glad I took a chance and purchased this. The author does a great job of weaving in personal anecdotes, historical context (in both programming and art) and an fresh look at many of the abstracts used in modern day programming that I found it at once refreshing, insightful, and informative. I actually thought about some of the paradigms I am familiar with from a new perpsective.

I highly recommend this book to both novices and experts alike - it provides a great context for learning programming and Processing specifically. It is also very well written in a conversational format that makes it immensely more approachable (and entertaining) than many of the other more engineering focused texts.

i started my learning of processing with this book.. and then i got hold of the manual by Reas and Fry. It was the comparision that made me realize how little synthetic Greenberg is in his writing. It hardly works as a manual or reference book for processing. The code gets too long many times unnecesarily, and to my taste, i would prefer to get a view on creative issues, rather than in Greenberg own personal experience.

but still you can get quite a lot of information out of it

Thank you for writing it Ira.

I received this book a few days ago and i have not finish yet, but everything i have read is very clear, easy to follow and with a lot of examples that works.

Is my first book about Processing, Im a actionscripter and here i found many interesting concepts, formulas, procedures that can help, not only in processing, just in a lot of languages that we could make artistic things.

If this book is an alternative for novices? i guess it is. Maybe in the firts reading people who have not any knowledge about programming it could be hard to follow, but i guess in the second or third lecture will became in a very good programmer. For people who have a knowledge it will be a very interesting travel to be a better programmer.

Wow. That's probably the best thing I can say about this book. I am a computer scientist who has always been fascinated with art and art history and as of late I have been experimenting with computational creativity, technology art, and generally messing with the visual and the technical. I have look through several book and essays that discuss art and technology, but they are all stuffy works that talk about how the new media is the wave of the future and really, give no advice as to what artists can do with technology. Here, finally, is a book that gets what computational art is. From the introduction through the reference, this book covers the Processing language and art hand in hand. Processing is by far the easiest computer art programming environment and so the text never gets too far ahead of itself and allows the author to continue to discuss art and technique rather than belabor how to draw a line. I'm not sure any other book or programming environment allows artists the instant freedom of expression. As a computer scientist, this book is great at covering the essentials of Processing. As an artist, I am most pleased by the coverage of art and technology, hearkening back to "techne." This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend.

Generally speaking this book moved way too slow for me and did not work well as a reference manual, so I would suggest that people who are already familiar with programming do not bother. The author spends way too much time running his mouth about stupid garbage that nobody cares about like how he got interested in processing or the profoundness of algorithmic art.
I know this book was written for artists and it probably works very well for that purpose but I strongly recommend that engineers or anybody already familiar with programming stay away from this book.