From the course: Processing: Interactive Data Visualization

What you should know - Processing Tutorial

From the course: Processing: Interactive Data Visualization

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What you should know

Processing is an extremely friendly and flexible programming language and, because it's based on Java, it's also extremely powerful. However, there are a few things that you should know before you get started with Processing; The first is that Processing is a text- based language, that is, you have to type out lines of code instead of using a drop click menu graphical user interface. At the same time, it's good to keep in mind that Processing was designed by and for artists, and also for accessibility to new programmers. Also, like most computer languages, Processing is very particular, for instance, all text is case-specific. Functions must be capitalized in a particular way or Processing won't recognize them, the same with the variables and other commands. Also, the order of your commands matters, whether something comes first or later can make a difference in the final product. Finally, you need to be able to tell your parentheses (), curly bracket {} and square brackets [] from each other. Processing is perhaps the easiest and friendliest text-based language you'll ever work with, especially, because of its visual output. It is also one of the best introductions to computer programming that you can have, given the similarity to other languages like Java or even C or C++. You'll be glad you took time to explore Processing, and how you can use it to create some beautiful and insightful work.

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