processing.org
Presented by
Casey Reas,
Ben Fry,
Ira Greenberg, and
Daniel Shiffman
[Workshops and other Processing events are listed at the
bottom of this page.]
Processing is an open-source programming language,
development environment, and online community that since 2001 has
promoted software literacy within the visual arts. Initially
created to serve as a software sketchbook and to teach fundamentals
of computer programming within a visual context, Processing quickly
developed into a tool for creating finished professional work as
well. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and
hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created
to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual
context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional
production tool for programming images, animation, and
interactions.
Processing is a free alternative to proprietary software tools with
expensive licenses, making it accessible to schools and individual
students. Its open-source status encourages the community
participation and collaboration that is vital to its growth.
Contributors share programs, contribute code, answer questions in
the discussion forum, and build libraries to extend the
possibilities of the software. The Processing community has written
over seventy libraries to facilitate computer vision, data
visualization, music, networking, and electronics.
The Processing software runs on the Mac, Windows, and GNU/Linux
platforms. With the click of a button, it exports applets for the
Web or standalone applications for Mac, Windows, and GNU/Linux.
Graphics from Processing programs may also be exported as PDF, DXF,
or TIFF files and many other file formats.
Processing was founded by Ben Fry and Casey Reas in 2001 while both
were John Maeda's students at the MIT Media Lab. Since that time,
Processing has received many significant awards and recognitions.
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (a Smithsonian
Institution) included Processing in its National Design Triennial.
Works created with Processing were featured prominently in the
Design and the Elastic Mind show at the Museum of Modern Art.
Numerous design magazines, including Print, Eye, and Creativity,
have highlighted the software. For their work on Processing, Fry
and Reas received the 2008 Muriel Cooper Prize from the Design
Management Institute. The Processing community was awarded the 2005
Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica award and the 2005 Interactive
Design Prize from the Tokyo Type Director's Club.
Some ways in which Processing is used:
- Students at hundreds of schools around the world use Processing
for classes ranging from middle school math education to
undergraduate programming courses to graduate fine arts
studios.
- Tens of thousands of companies, artists, designers, architects,
and researchers use Processing to create an incredibly diverse
range of projects.
- Design firms such as Motion Theory provide motion graphics
created with Processing for the TV commercials of companies like
Nike, Budweiser, and Hewlett-Packard.
- Bands such as R.E.M., Radiohead, and Modest Mouse have featured
animation created with Processing in their music videos.
- Publications such as the journal Nature, the New York Times,
Seed, and Communications of the ACM have commissioned information
graphics created with Processing.
- The University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab used
Processing to create a visualization of a coastal marine ecosystem
as a part of the NSF RISE project.
- The Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies at Miami
University uses Processing to build visualization tools and analyze
text for digital humanities research.
March 7, morning workshops 10am-1pm:
Workshop 1:
A Patient Introduction to Processing for Total Beginners, Part
1 (Introductory; with Casey Reas)
Workshop 2:
A Brisk Introduction to Processing
(Introductory/Intermediate; with Daniel Shiffman)
Workshop
3:
Information Visualization with Processing
(Intermediate; with Ben Fry)
March 7, afternoon workshops 2pm-5pm:
Workshop 4:
A Patient Introduction to Processing for Total Beginners, Part
2 (Introductory; with Casey Reas)
Workshop 5:
Teaching with Processing: Considerations for the Classroom
(for Educators; with Ira Greenberg)
Workshop 6:
Processing: Advanced Applications (Intermediate/Advanced;
with Daniel Shiffman)
Workshop
7:
Information Visualization with Processing
(Intermediate; with Ben Fry)
March 8, symposium
Lecture, 1-1:45pm
March 9, "Hello World" workshops:
Getting Started with
Processing, 9-10:30am
Getting Started with
Processing, 10:30am-noon