Product Description

As the first book to share the necessary algorithms for creating code to experiment with design problems in the processing language, this book offers a series of generic procedures that can function as building blocks and encourages you to then use those building blocks to experiment, explore, and channel your thoughts, ideas, and principles into potential solutions. The book covers such topics as structured shapes, solid geometry, networking and databases, physical computing, image processing, graphic user interfaces, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #489866 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470375488
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover

Experiment with design problems to create 3D animations, GUIs, and more

Are you ready to dramatically enhance your programming skills by experimenting with design problems in the digital domain? Kostas Terzidis shows you a series of generic procedures that serve as building blocks for you to test, explore, or channel your ideas and principles into solutions. He uses the Processing computer language to walk you through advanced algorithms and techniques. You'll then gain a strong understanding of the complexity involved in today's design problems as you construct your own customized algorithms.

• Develop geometric entities and combine the elements into complex shapes

• Design graphical user interfaces using standard library components and connect them to geometrical actions

• Process images as an alteration of a local area or as a global effect in the form of a filter

• Build single and multiple animated objects as well as simulate dynamic behavior

• Produce the behavior of a 3D object rotating in space

• Create the impression of a continuous surface out of discrete points

• Use, connect, and control devices in the form of feed, feedback, and multiple feedback systems

About the Author

Kostas Terzidis is an associate professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He is an educator, designer, theorist, architect, and computer scientist. His professional work includes software development for Java media framework and Linux as a software engineer for AOL. Terzidis is also the author of three previous books.

Customer Reviews

A Good Beginning Processing Book; Not an Algorithms Reference for Advanced Users
I pre-ordered this book thinking (from the title and from Terzidis's bio) that it would be a book on advanced visual design algorithms. You'd think that a book with "algorithms" in the title would put an emphasis on optimizing techniques for difficult problems - it doesn't. I didn't get to peruse the table of contents before purchase, and now I wish that I had, because it covers a lot of the same information as other books I own (Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics), Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment, and Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (Foundation)).

If you need a book that will have algorithms to find intersections between lines and bezier curves, 2d and 3d collision detection between irregular shapes, how to utilize vector files with soft body dynamics in processing, or how to efficiently time shift video on a pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line basis; if you need a book that will be like Introduction to Algorithms for visual design in processing, you'll have to keep waiting.

If, however, you are looking for a more in-depth discussion of issues about at level of the examples included with processing, then you're in a right place, if not THE right place. Like almost all the books mentioned above, this book doesn't take for granted that you're experienced with processing (even the operators are explained in the first chapter). All the lessons are explained well, and in addition, there's even a nod to other issues such as physical computing with arduino. There are questions at the end of each section, and answers in the back of the book. At this time, I'd recommend it about as much as I'd recommend each of the books above except Shiffman's, which I consider the best introductory text on Processing.

Novice Author
I would agree that this book is a lot less advanced than I was expecting but what makes it worse it the mistakes and lack of understanding by the author into many of the topics covered. For example when discussing fractals he makes the mistake of mixing up one way of generating a fractal with the definition of the class of fractals themselves. He even gets wrong the derivation of the name failing to mention it is anything to do with fractional dimensions. Other topics are equally well misunderstood in the authors mind.
However the worst aspect of the authors ignorance is when he strays into physical computing. His facts are not only wrong but examples and projects will lead people to permanently damage their Arduino boards if carried out. For example he states that circuits are made by welding together wires on a silicon board. This is patently rubbish, circuits are made by soldering together components onto a printed circuit board normally made of fibre glass. He gets the definition of why it is called a micro controller wrong and there are practical errors too. The section on LEDs fails to mention they need current limiting resistors and the example project given only works because there is an internal series resistor on the single type of Arduino board he used. Anyone attempting the same project and using another pin or board will permanently damage their Arduino. Similarly the sound transducer is shown correctly with a current limiting resistor but then he fails to use this in another project that combines two pieces of hardware.
All in all he give the feeling that he has attended a course on how to use Processing and the Arduino, he has incompletely understood it, and then thinks he is qualified to write a book. Not good enough!