Pyprocessing: Processing without Java.

Nodebox 2 is cross-platform [http://beta.nodebox.net]. Unfortunately, IMHO, they achieved this by going with Java as the base and changing the scripting engine to use Jython.

RK• 17 years ago

Shoebot looks pretty interesting. It's pure Python.

http://tinkerhouse.net/shoebot/Main/HomePage

daeken• 17 years ago

On a related note, I was without internet for a bit and decided to write a Processing-esque library for .NET (specifically, it's Boo). I haven't touched it in a while, but someone may be interested in doing something with it: http://trac2.assembla.com/livingcanvas/browser/trunk

middayc• 17 years ago

You could call it without JVM. You are not programming ordinary Processing in Java but ~in~ Processing.

Why is without "Java" a feature. It makes it not run in a browser and I doubt I could speed-wise make something like this with it. It's made in ordinary processing (and it runs in a browser). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACBSRG5ywM

I don't object the creation of processing in yet another language. I just slightly object this title.

vicehead3• 17 years ago

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• 17 years 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

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...

rjurney3• 17 years 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

Pyprocessing: Processing without Java.

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