3 ms·

Any more recommendations for visually interesting JavaScript? I have a kid who is tired of the "just boring text" of Python assignments (things like Project Eul

by SiVal 10y ago

Any more recommendations for visually interesting JavaScript? I have a kid who is tired of the "just boring text" of Python assignments (things like Project Euler) and wants to start using JavaScript (he can already do static HTML & CSS, but wants to bring it to life with JS), so he can "see cool stuff". He's already had enough of Scratch, and I don't want a Python graphics library, because it's time for him to add JavaScript to his toolbox (in addition to Python, not instead). He's very artistic (his Photoshop work is amazing), and we both want him to spend the upcoming summer using artistic projects as a vehicle for learning JavaScript programming. I'll check out P5.js and Processing.js. Any other suggestions or ideas?

kaesve 10y ago
I personally really like to just use plain javascript and the canvas API. I found the tutorial on mdn very useful (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Canvas_API/Tutorial https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Canvas_API/...), and I enjoy the simplicity of not using libraries and tools. I've also used EaselJS, which is also pretty good (but doesn't offer me anything I really need), and PixiJS, which is supposed to be very fast, by using WebGL where possible.
ryanSrich 10y ago
Not super comparable but three.js makes WebGl pretty accessible http://threejs.org http://threejs.org
spiralganglion 10y ago
I echo the other voices saying canvas and pure JS (or, in my case, CoffeeScript or ClojureScript). The canvas API is extremely intuitive — aside from the boilerplate setup, perhaps — and you can make some really neat things with it very quickly. The home page for my personal site has a starfield made entirely with canvas: http://ivanish.ca http://ivanish.ca — best to view in a dark room so you can see all the pseudo-nebulae. Source code (if it helps): https://github.com/ivanreese/ivanish/blob/master/source/script/stars.coffee https://github.com/ivanreese/ivanish/blob/master/source/scri... You might also want to consider Elm, but I have very little first-hand experience with it: http://elm-lang.org http://elm-lang.org

by SiVal 10y ago

kaesve 10y ago

I personally really like to just use plain javascript and the canvas API. I found the tutorial on mdn very useful (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Canvas_API/Tutorial https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Canvas_API/...), and I enjoy the simplicity of not using libraries and tools. I've also used EaselJS, which is also pretty good (but doesn't offer me anything I really need), and PixiJS, which is supposed to be very fast, by using WebGL where possible.

ryanSrich 10y ago

Not super comparable but three.js makes WebGl pretty accessible http://threejs.org http://threejs.org

spiralganglion 10y ago

I echo the other voices saying canvas and pure JS (or, in my case, CoffeeScript or ClojureScript). The canvas API is extremely intuitive — aside from the boilerplate setup, perhaps — and you can make some really neat things with it very quickly. The home page for my personal site has a starfield made entirely with canvas: http://ivanish.ca http://ivanish.ca — best to view in a dark room so you can see all the pseudo-nebulae. Source code (if it helps): https://github.com/ivanreese/ivanish/blob/master/source/script/stars.coffee https://github.com/ivanreese/ivanish/blob/master/source/scri... You might also want to consider Elm, but I have very little first-hand experience with it: http://elm-lang.org http://elm-lang.org