Programming Media Art Using Processing

Book excerpt: Programming Media Art Using Processing: A Beginner's Guide provides an entry-level exploration into visual design through computer programming using the open source and artist-friendly language, Processing. Used by hundreds of students, this learning system breaks lessons down into strategic steps towards fun and creative media art projects. This book provides a linear series of lessons with step-by-step examples that lead to beginning media art projects, including abstract designs, pixel landscapes, rollover animations, and simple video games. Computer programming can be overwhelming for the first-time learner, but this book makes the learning of code more digestible and fun through a full color, well-diagrammed, and deeply explained text presentation. Lessons are rhythmically broken down into digestible parts with code annotations and illustrations that help learners focus on the details one step at a time. The content is legible, flexible, and fun to work with because of its project-based nature. By following the lessons and producing the projects sequentially in this book, readers will develop the beginning foundational skills needed to understand computer programming basics across many languages and also explore the art of graphic design. Ultimately, this is a hands-on, practical guide.