This past week I’ve had the opportunity to really dig in and give processing.js a work out. For those not familiar with the technology, processing.js is a JavaScript library based on the Java based processing library available for download at http://processing.org/. Processing.js uses the HTML5 Canvas element to draw shapes and designs while using a similar API to the one defined by the Java library.

I found the barrier to entry was unnecessarily frustrating due to the lack of a _good_ beginners tutorial calling out common pitfalls. But don’t let this sway you, because once you move past this, it is really fun.

I just re-visited the processing.js site and they’ve really improved the documentation and tutorials. So I am updating this post to reflect that fact since my examples are no longer really helpful.