LearningProcessing VS p5.js

Dan Shiffman! I had made several attempts at learning how to program before finding his original beginning processing series[1] and book[2]. The series still holds up today and recommend it as a good starting point to anyone who's interested getting into graphics programming.

1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzJbM9-DyOZyMZzVda3Ha...

2. http://learningprocessing.com/

If this interests you I would focus on just understanding basic coding concepts. Processing along with the Understanding Processing book by Daniel Shiffman is the introduction I'd recommend to anyone (this is the platform they used to teach Digital Media grad students with zero coding experience in my program). Everything you do is visual, you can literally see where things are not behaving as expected, which makes troubleshooting much, much, MUCH easier.

If you don't care what language you're starting with, but rather just want a good introduction to programming then I can't recommend Daniel Shiffman's Learning Processing[1] book enough. It uses Java and Processing[2] to make visual interactive programs which is in my opinion way more fun to learn than with traditional text-based programs.

1. http://learningprocessing.com/

2. https://processing.org/

I started programming around 5th or 6th grade with a language called Kids Programming Language or Phrogram it was sort of like an Actionscript-y language. When I was younger I always found it really frustrating to use Scratch and I think that using that more realistic coding environment helped me build my foundation of skills as I learned the basics of syntax, branching, booleans, loops and debugging. I think syntax errors, reading coding and structuring code are all core skills that a young programmer should learn which I think these visual editors hide.

I personally recommend teaching kids with a more realistic but visual language like Processing.js: https://p5js.org/ It allows them to stay motivated by making games or other visual projects but it provides the realistic experience of programming in a more simplified language. There's also some great books and resources to teach out of like https://p5js.org/books/ and http://learningprocessing.com/

Processing (P5) had this: you can select any string of text in its IDE anl search for it in the docs, and if it's one of the built-in functions or constants it will open the associated static html page that came installed with the software, so no internet nor server required. And despite being offline you can still navigate the docs too. This feels a lost basic skill in static site generation these days.

It was the only creative coding framework that had complete, offline documentation like that at the time I might add. OpenFrameworks is still mostly autogenerated stubs for example.

IMO it was one of the things that gave Processing an edge in educational contexts over all alternatives. I was pretty sad to see p5.js not fully continue that tradition and require that you go online to read the docs, and that it's not a static website but that text is rendered with javascript when you open it (still complete and with examples though).

https://processing.org/

https://p5js.org/

I thought it could be funny to use the javascript version of it https://p5js.org/ in a web page and then wrap it in a Unity app, since Unity was and is the environment I use for making apps.

In this last section, I'll be creating some visual examples to show how helpful loops can be. I'll be using p5js, a JavaScript library with functionality for creative coding. That being said, I'll try to give a condensed version of the functions being utilized in the following examples.

I was curious too, took a little bit of digging :)

"the original domain of [P]rocessing was proce55ing.net, so people used to sometimes refer to processing as proce55ing or P5 or p5 for short. they still do sometimes. p5.js is a reference to that."

from https://github.com/processing/p5.js/issues/2443

Sketch.js - https://p5js.org/

> how do I get him learning programming in a fun way?

Processing / P5.js can be pretty fun to learn. You use a real programming language to create art and animations. With little code you can get a circle on the screen, then making it move, then following your mouse, then adding other shapes, then changing colour depending on some event… It’s conductive to experimentation and a way to gradually introduce concepts.

https://processing.org/

https://p5js.org/

https://thecodingtrain.com/

Then I used p5js to create the 'art' itself, really user friendly coding framework with lots of resources online! If you want to get into coding, that is a really great entry point with Daniel Schiffman's coding train videos on YT!

Posted an issue for it that u guys can check out here: https://github.com/processing/p5.js/issues/6166