| | |  | Software Engineering | Home » » » Programming Interactivity: A Designer's Guide to Processing, Arduino, and Openframeworks | | | | | | | Description: | | Make cool stuff. If you're a designer or artist without a lot of programming experience, this book will teach you to work with 2D and 3D graphics, sound, physical interaction, and electronic circuitry to create all sorts of interesting and compelling experiences -- online and off. Programming Interactivity explains programming and electrical engineering basics, and introduces three freely available tools created specifically for artists and designers: - Processing, a Java-based programming language and environment for building projects on the desktop, Web, or mobile phones
- Arduino, a system that integrates a microcomputer prototyping board, IDE, and programming language for creating your own hardware and controls
- OpenFrameworks, a coding framework simplified for designers and artists, using the powerful C++ programming language
BTW, you don't have to wait until you finish the book to actually make something. You'll get working code samples you can use right away, along with the background and technical information you need to design, program, build, and troubleshoot your own projects. The cutting edge design techniques and discussions with leading artists and designers will give you the tools and inspiration to let your imagination take flight.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Joshua Noble | | Paperback:
| 736 pages | | Publisher:
| O'Reilly Media | | Publication Date:
| July 28, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0596154143 | | Product Length:
| 7.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 9.1 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.6 inches | | Product Weight:
| 2.55 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 15 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 15 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 70 found the following review helpful:
 A "from the author" reviewSep 01, 2009
By Joshua J. Noble
I can review my own book, right? Sure, why not? There's quite a few things I'm pretty happy with in this book: the breadth of it, the interviews, and the general tone of it, and that it's covering some territory that's not entirely adequately covered elsewhere. There's a things I wish were better as well: a few of the images are cropped wrong, one of them is actually printed twice, and there's a lot of typos. I'd encourage people to check the errata page on the O'Reilly site (oreilly.com/catalog/9780596154141/errata/), you'll find a lot of corrections there that will give you a way better experience with the book. With all the corrections that have been made over the past few weeks taken into consideration, my rating is 4 stars, the "I like it". Without those taken into consideration I would go with a "it's ok".
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 A MUST for those learning Arduino, Processing, or oFSep 01, 2009
By K. Sederquist
"k.sederquist"
What I great book! I was surprised to see how thick this book was.
I am learning the Arduino and have found this book such an in-depth and invaluable reference. It's a well written book that presents each language from the ground up so that even the complete beginner isn't lost. This book is for all, no matter what stage of learning.
If you're just started with the Arduino, or already have some experience with the Arduino and want to learn more you will NOT be disappointed.
14 of 17 found the following review helpful:
A Tour De Force of Interaction Design and Physical ComputingAug 06, 2009
By Ira Laefsky
"Ira Laefsky"
This massive volume provides the artist, designer, or non-technical hobbyist with all the skills they need to create awesome demonstrations, interactive systems and exhibits which exploit the best of what has been developed in Physical Computing and Interaction Design. Contained within this handbook are the tools for the non-technical individual to explore and exploit the capabilities of the Arduino Microcontroller environment, three different and powerful programming environments (Arduino, Processing and openFrameworks), basic Analog and Digital Electronics, Machine Vision and Sound Processing, as well as interviews with leading practitioners of Interaction Design and Physical Computing.
Its all in here in a well explained and comprehensive fashion--everything the artist, designer, or hobbyist needs to exploit programming, microcontrollers, physical computing, sensors and actuators, and interaction design. My only slight nit, on this excellent instructional handbook is that--given there is much too much information to be digested in a few sittings, the navigation and exploration of this important guide to Interactivity, will be somewhat anecdotal and will require tabbing of important spots for subsequent reference.
But this is the best and most up-to-date and comprehensive review of Physical Computing and Interaction Programming available anywhere.
-_Ira Laefsky
Information Technology Consultant and HCI Researcher
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Clear, concise, very useful. Top notch Arduino info!Nov 30, 2009
By J. Scott Davidson
Being new to programming I have purchased a dozen texts as of this last purchase "Interactivity". This is the only one of the twelve that got me coding straight away. Within twenty minutes I had something a little more interesting than blinking lights to look at. My home brew robot had an obstacle avoidance routine written and working. I have been adding to that program ever since, not laboring over seemingly hopeless examples of projects that just don't interest me.
If you just bought an Arduino, or have any other reason to understand and use a computer language this should be your first purchased. More than any of that (and that would be enough) this text is readable, enjoyable. I would reread this book just because I enjoyed the author's style of writing.
This book also offers you a bonus, this might scare off some that read other reviews or the book description: you will learn three languages simultaneously. This would seem like an impossible task for most folks intimidated by learning just one language, but the author demonstrates quickly how natural it is to learn all three side by side. What a boon to your knowledge base!
It is very rare a text book of such wide scope and usefulness is authored.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Give this book a chance to meet your needs.Dec 12, 2009
By Karl Kelley
When I began reading (studying?) this book, I was a bit disappointed because of its emphasis on Processing and OpenFrameWorks which are two programming languages closely related to the Arduino programming language. I had purchased the book specifically to gain knowledge about the Arduino language and its nuances, and here I was being "force fed" more languages!
After reading the first Chapter or two, I laid it aside for a couple of weeks, hoping to sell it on e-bay or something. I picked it up again, thumbed to some random location in the middle of the book and found that I was "hooked". I downloaded the Processing language Development Environment as suggested in the book, found it was virtually identical to the Arduino language (from which it was derived), and was delighted that the book delved very nicely into the "nuances" that I had been looking for.
I have little interest in OpenFrameWorks language, but this book gives me everything I hoped for related to Arduino and Processing. It is thorough, simple when it needs to be simple, and more in-depth when appropriate. I recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to become proficient in the programming environment used by Arduino. (BTW...if you don't know what an Arduino is, you probably should NOT by this book!)
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