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Processing is a subset of Java. For starters, Java and thus by extension processing doesn't allow funargs and is constrained by it's verbosity. For anything ot

Processing is a subset of Java. For starters, Java and thus by extension processing doesn't allow funargs and is constrained by it's verbosity. For anything other than basic Sketches, this is a huge disadvantage for something that claims to be an educational tool.

ewjordan 17y ago
First, the nitpick: Processing isn't quite a subset of Java, it actually both supports full Java syntax (if a tab is named .java, it's processed as a plain old Java file) and adds a few syntax preprocessings of its own apart from wrapping everything into a Java class (one example: numbers don't have to have f at the end to be interpreted as floats). With that out of the way: it's worth noting that someone put together a Scala version of Processing, which addresses the lack of functional goodness in Java while still using the "normal" Processing library (maybe even the environment?): http://technically.us/spde/About http://technically.us/spde/About As an educational tool, you could do a lot worse than introducing people to Java, though, since if they ever plan to work, it's probably what they'll be stuck coding. And for all its limitations power-wise, I've seen far better (and far more) data visualizations come out of Processing than anywhere else (data viz is probably the #1 use case, since graphic/animation work is made very painless), so they're clearly doing something right...
- rjurney 17y ago
  Amen. Processing gets out of your way and lets you do great viz.
rjurney 17y ago
You quickly graduate into writing PApplets in Java. However, even as you do so - the ability to sketch ideas and algorithms in the sketchpad interface is still a huge help. In practice, Processing is by far the best thing going for creating interactive ad hoc visualizations. Fluency in processing imparts enormous viz power. It is really liberating. I pretty much only write Java when I do Processing (and some Pig stuff), and I don't mind it at all - despite not loving Java. Using a JVM is a huge advantage because you can embed your applets in web pages and interact with the rest of the page via JS. Jython would be cool. Processing : Viz as Perl : CSV

ewjordan 17y ago

First, the nitpick: Processing isn't quite a subset of Java, it actually both supports full Java syntax (if a tab is named .java, it's processed as a plain old Java file) and adds a few syntax preprocessings of its own apart from wrapping everything into a Java class (one example: numbers don't have to have f at the end to be interpreted as floats). With that out of the way: it's worth noting that someone put together a Scala version of Processing, which addresses the lack of functional goodness in Java while still using the "normal" Processing library (maybe even the environment?): http://technically.us/spde/About http://technically.us/spde/About As an educational tool, you could do a lot worse than introducing people to Java, though, since if they ever plan to work, it's probably what they'll be stuck coding. And for all its limitations power-wise, I've seen far better (and far more) data visualizations come out of Processing than anywhere else (data viz is probably the #1 use case, since graphic/animation work is made very painless), so they're clearly doing something right...

rjurney 17y ago
Amen. Processing gets out of your way and lets you do great viz.

rjurney 17y ago

You quickly graduate into writing PApplets in Java. However, even as you do so - the ability to sketch ideas and algorithms in the sketchpad interface is still a huge help. In practice, Processing is by far the best thing going for creating interactive ad hoc visualizations. Fluency in processing imparts enormous viz power. It is really liberating. I pretty much only write Java when I do Processing (and some Pig stuff), and I don't mind it at all - despite not loving Java. Using a JVM is a huge advantage because you can embed your applets in web pages and interact with the rest of the page via JS. Jython would be cool. Processing : Viz as Perl : CSV