Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

I am a college professor at a small California Community College. I stumbled onto processing about three years ago, just when I was designing a new 'first course' in programming. I decided at the time to go with an existing textbook which used Java as a first language. I was not happy with the results.When I got a look at the Shiffman text, I got excited about processing again. I used other material to supplement in areas such as number systems, Von Newmann architecture, and the rest. I introduced Processing about 1/3 of the way through the class and students picked it up very quickly using the text. We went through about 11 chapters in about 8 weeks, and students developed quite a few cool interactive and graphical apps with loops, conditionals, arrays, File I/O and even a few objects! And the best part is that they enjoyed it!I gave students a 'Course Feedback Survey' at the end where they rated aspects on a scale of 1-10 (1 = strongly disagree, 10 = totally agree). They gave the question "The textbook did a great job of explaining the material" an average of 9 out of 10.I am adapting the course to teach it fully-online next Fall, and I'm excited about using the Shiffman text again. I was able to contact the author who provided additional support for me to work up some decent PPT slides to use for the class.The book goes well beyond what I am using it for, and introduces quite a few topics that I have not reviewed or used (yet). It has a good index, is sprinkled with graphic diagrams, and has excellent supplements online (example code and such).I am also expecting great things from the students that used this book in their next programming class (standard CS1 with Java). I might even use some of the more advanced examples for my CS1 class too!Congrats Daniel on a job well done!

In short, if you want to get started in Processing, you won't regret getting this book.I am teaching a course about mathematics and computers and programming, and learned about Processing shortly before the course began. I am always interested in programming languages that are easy to learn, and provide quick visually appealing results to the learner. Processing is definitely such a language.So, in a scramble to add Processing to my syllabus because it was such a good fit, I needed some books to quickly get me up to speed. I purchased this, and I purchased Ira Greenberg's "Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art". I really like both books a lot, but this book, "Learning Processing", is wonderfully put together and would serve well as either a textbook for a course in programming, or as an introduction to a casual user, whether or not that user has any prior programming experience.The content organization of this book is excellent, and includes examples that are both instructional and inspiring. See, for example, the fractal examples in the section on recursive functions. Beautiful examples made understandable. (By contrast, Greenberg's book is loaded with wonderful examples as well, but the content organization and the lengthy but interesting prose may put off someone who is new to programming and is trying to get up and running quickly.)I can't recommend this book enough if you are thinking of learning Processing. It's a fun language, worthy of any attention it is getting as an introductory programming language (our university uses Processing to teach a course in "Aesthetics & Computation"). And "Learning Processing" is a great book for learning the language.

Processing is a Java-inspired language designed to make creating interactive, animated graphics applications simple. Learning Processing assumes no previous programming experience. The basics of programming are presented in a light-hearted manner including illustrations that show how data structures and algorithms are combined to solve graphics processing problems. This information is useful not only for graphics but also as a basic introduction to computer programming in general. Readers who follow the chapters examples and work through the exercises will finish the book knowing they can do some basic object-oriented programming (OOP) and communicate intelligently about modern computer programming issues. And hey, graphics programming is just so darn cool to show your friends!

I first learned about Processing through the FunProgramming.org website, which features more than 100 short programming examples of Processing. At some point I decided I needed some sort of reference besides what I find online and started looking for a book that would give me a good overview of the language. I chose 'Learning Processing' as the index appeared to cover a number of topics that were of interest to me. Daniel Shiffman Beginners Guide delivers. I've not even attempted any animation at this point, but in my estimation, I've gotten my money's worth.Besides an emphasis on the basics of computer animation, Shiffman presents two very clearly written chapters on Object Oriented Programming and how it relates to building complex graphic structures. Did I mention that Processing runs on a Mac?My only real problem with the book is that it seems directed towards high school students or college freshman, at the most. The examples are a bit simplistic and the book is designed around a workbook format which only adds to that high school look and feel, at least from what I can remember of high school. Other than that, I'm more than pleased with my choice. If you're interested in learning about Processing, this is a book I'd recommend as it covers a lot ground, plus all of the examples are online are free to download.

Great book that has lessons that build upon one another. The book is also strongly supported by a website with lots of content and resources. Processing makes learning java fun and visual. I use this to help introduce students to computer science.

Questo libro insegna al lettore a scrivere programmi per computer usando l' ambiente di sviluppo "processing" (vedi processing.org per piu` informazioni) Processing e` un ambiente di sviluppo facile da usare e molto potente, soprattutto per quanto riguarda la produzione e animazione di immagini sullo schermo del computer. Il linguaggio e` una versione semplificata di Java, con cui processing e` totalmente compatibile. L'immediatezza del passaggi tra scrittura del programma e sua esecuzione ricorda il Basic dei primi personal computer, quando programmare era molto divertente. Per non ripetermi, invito il lettore a guardare la mia recensione a "The Nature of Code", dello stesso autore.

This is a first class introduction to programming for students wanting to get to grips with programming concepts quickly and effectively. After spending many years teaching Pascal and C (and on the odd occasion with more advanced students, TCL/TK) I now use it every year with my new A-Level group. Processing is an excellent Java wrapper and not only do the students get lots of positive feedback from the language as they rapidly build small graphics programs, but as they progress, the full functionality of Java becomes available to them. Daniel Shiffman writes very well - his style is chatty but always accurate. The pace is well judged, gentle at the beginning, quicker as the student becomes grows in confidence. Most importantly, it's a book that the students take home and read with enjoyment, not something that can be said for all programming books.

Processingを高校生のサマーセミナーでおしえなければいけなくなりました。高校生には日本語の教科書を指定しましたが、なにしろ書かれている内容が薄いので、せめて、講師側はきちんと勉強しておこうと購入しました。通勤の往復の電車のなかで数日で読みきれましたが、よいことが沢山かかれています。大学生以上ならこれを読めるでしょうから（英語は平易）、内容が濃いものを読みたければ、初心者から始められて中級弱程度までは（Processingの）これで行けるでしょう。非常に良い本です。目からうろこ。翻訳でなく、英語で読んでも読みやすいし、内容が良いので、是非、Processingを学ぶ人は日本語の本の次にこれを読んでみてください。

Great book.