The Essential Guide to Processing for Flash Developers

Processing is a open source project that bridges the gap between programming and art. Its simplicity and power appeal to non-coders and old-hands alike. As a Flash developer, you already have a firm grasp of basic programming principles and an understanding of creating and controlling visuals through code. This book uses your existing knowledge as a springboard to learning Processing and harnessing the extra creative power and control that it offers, both on and off the web.

The Essential Guide to Processing for Flash Developers takes a hands-on approach to learning Processing that builds upon your familiarity with Flash, and your experience with the ActionScript language and object-oriented programming concepts. The book offers a full series of Processing projects, structured to allow less experienced coders to get up to speed quickly, while leaving room for more experienced programmers to take the initial project concepts and build more complex applications.

• Includes a language primer explaining all of the Processing-specific programming theory you need to know
• Contains a full series of Processing projects and numerous easy-to-follow code examples
• Covers Processings Java mode, providing an easy-to-navigate bridge to programming in Java, Processings underlying host language

• simple character animation
• an advanced particle engine
• a serious game, with AI
• a cellular automata framework, including a .lif file format parser
• a 3D data visualization application

This book is for designers and developers who are familiar with Flash and want to start working in the Processing language. This book eases the transition to Processing, showing you exactly what the new concepts that you'll face are, and also how much you won't have to learn because of your existing Flash knowledge. If you've ever stood in awe of a Processing demonstration and wished you could do that, then this book is for you.