Customer Reviews

Programming Interactivity: A Designer's Guide to Processing, Arduino, and Openframeworks

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can review my own book, right? Sure, why not? There's quite a few things I'm pretty happy with in this book: the breadth of it, the interviews, and the general tone of it, and that it's covering some territory that's not entirely adequately covered elsewhere. There's a things I wish were better as well: a few of the images are cropped wrong, one of them is actually printed twice, and there's a lot of typos. I'd encourage people to check the errata page on the O'Reilly site (oreilly.com/catalog/9780596154141/errata/), you'll find a lot of corrections there that will give you a way better experience with the book. With all the corrections that have been made over the past few weeks taken into consideration, my rating is 4 stars, the "I like it". Without those taken into consideration I would go with a "it's ok".

What I great book! I was surprised to see how thick this book was.

I am learning the Arduino and have found this book such an in-depth and invaluable reference. It's a well written book that presents each language from the ground up so that even the complete beginner isn't lost. This book is for all, no matter what stage of learning.

If you're just started with the Arduino, or already have some experience with the Arduino and want to learn more you will NOT be disappointed.

This massive volume provides the artist, designer, or non-technical hobbyist with all the skills they need to create awesome demonstrations, interactive systems and exhibits which exploit the best of what has been developed in Physical Computing and Interaction Design. Contained within this handbook are the tools for the non-technical individual to explore and exploit the capabilities of the Arduino Microcontroller environment, three different and powerful programming environments (Arduino, Processing and openFrameworks), basic Analog and Digital Electronics, Machine Vision and Sound Processing, as well as interviews with leading practitioners of Interaction Design and Physical Computing.

Its all in here in a well explained and comprehensive fashion--everything the artist, designer, or hobbyist needs to exploit programming, microcontrollers, physical computing, sensors and actuators, and interaction design. My only slight nit, on this excellent instructional handbook is that--given there is much too much information to be digested in a few sittings, the navigation and exploration of this important guide to Interactivity, will be somewhat anecdotal and will require tabbing of important spots for subsequent reference.

But this is the best and most up-to-date and comprehensive review of Physical Computing and Interaction Programming available anywhere.

-_Ira Laefsky
Information Technology Consultant and HCI Researcher

Being new to programming I have purchased a dozen texts as of this last purchase "Interactivity". This is the only one of the twelve that got me coding straight away. Within twenty minutes I had something a little more interesting than blinking lights to look at. My home brew robot had an obstacle avoidance routine written and working. I have been adding to that program ever since, not laboring over seemingly hopeless examples of projects that just don't interest me.

If you just bought an Arduino, or have any other reason to understand and use a computer language this should be your first purchased. More than any of that (and that would be enough) this text is readable, enjoyable. I would reread this book just because I enjoyed the author's style of writing.

This book also offers you a bonus, this might scare off some that read other reviews or the book description: you will learn three languages simultaneously. This would seem like an impossible task for most folks intimidated by learning just one language, but the author demonstrates quickly how natural it is to learn all three side by side. What a boon to your knowledge base!

It is very rare a text book of such wide scope and usefulness is authored.

When I began reading (studying?) this book, I was a bit disappointed because of its emphasis on Processing and OpenFrameWorks which are two programming languages closely related to the Arduino programming language. I had purchased the book specifically to gain knowledge about the Arduino language and its nuances, and here I was being "force fed" more languages!
After reading the first Chapter or two, I laid it aside for a couple of weeks, hoping to sell it on e-bay or something. I picked it up again, thumbed to some random location in the middle of the book and found that I was "hooked". I downloaded the Processing language Development Environment as suggested in the book, found it was virtually identical to the Arduino language (from which it was derived), and was delighted that the book delved very nicely into the "nuances" that I had been looking for.
I have little interest in OpenFrameWorks language, but this book gives me everything I hoped for related to Arduino and Processing. It is thorough, simple when it needs to be simple, and more in-depth when appropriate. I recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to become proficient in the programming environment used by Arduino. (BTW...if you don't know what an Arduino is, you probably should NOT by this book!)

This is a very good treatise about interaction among computers, microcontrollers, human beings and the outside world. In particular it explores Processing, Openframeworks and Arduino.
Absolutly clear on how to make things work, both hardware and software. Those who are not too familiar with electronics or programming will find the practical examples in this book easy to reproduce. Some problems may be encountered with "Openframeworks" though, having it up and running at the beginning. There are some links and forums where any unskilled individual can find help anyway.
This is a "must read" for the creative artist, designer, architect, etc.

I got this book to learn openframeworks. A very good and complete guide, but a little difficult to read and understand because the author mixes three different languages: arduino, processing and openframeworks. I would have found more interesting a simple openframeworks book, a lot of information about the other two is already published.
I have also found some mistakes in code which have made me become crazy.
I recommend this book because i think it's the only openframeworks book option by now (FEB/2010).
I really liked the way that theory is explained, but codelines in this book aren't as good as i had expected.

This book is a great resource for those new to Arduino, Processing, or Openframeworks. The amount of (quality) information that the author managed to get into the book is impressive to say the least. Some of the interesting topics I'd like to mention include:

-> Interfacing the Arduino with practically any kind of device you can imagine: motion sensors, accelerometers, stepper motors, appliances... the list goes on and on.
-> Using the Arduino to talk to Processing applications (easier than you think, it's just Serial communication!)
-> Image processing with Openframeworks
-> Networking in Processing and Arduino

Seriously, it really is in-depth. Take a look at the index if you don't believe me.

I bought this book along with the Arduino Uno. My one caution to those that want to do the same is this: The setup information for Arduino doesn't exactly cover the Uno. The Uno (and the new Mega) came out after this book was released. BUT, the process hasn't really changed at all. You shouldn't have any problems.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get involved with any of the three technologies the book covers.

I'm working my way through this. Half the time I don't know what Mr. Noble is talking about, but the text does eventually succumb to hard work and study and I would not be learning my way around this field at anywhere near the pace if it were an "easier" book. It's a great book about a new, complex, rapidly growing field in which I am a complete neophyte. I am enjoying the challenge immensely.

I've purchased a variety of books on physical computing, arduino, and processing but this one is probably the best of the best. Lots of info with lots of code, probably not for absolute beginners but a great read at any level.