Creative Computing

Joel Gethin Lewis

Week 1: Lecture 2: Remembering

Group meditation.
Questions.
Overview of current Creative Coding frameworks.
Introduction to JavaScript.
Processing, p5.js, ml5.js, pts.js.
p5.js web editor, Glitch.com, Visual Studio Code.
Daniel Shifmann, The Nature of Code, The Coding Train, Rune Madsen, Programming Design Systems, Gene Kogan, Machine Learning for Artists.
openFrameworks, the oFBook.
zzz.dog, three.js, Mr Doob and A-Frame and AR.
Unreal engine, Blender and Rubber Duck Debugging.
Data Types: primitive, composite and abstract.
Feedback.
Homework Assignment.

Are you recording Joel? Have you taken the register first?

The Egg.
All in a circle. Comfortable positions. Eyes closed. Breathing through the belly. Anyone want a pillow to sit on?
Trigger warning - this meditation is about what might happen when you die. If you want to sit this out for any reason, I'll give a shout on the Slack when we are done. Each to their own.

All questions allowed!
2 minutes alone on post it notes, then double group size every 1 minutes until it's the whole group.
This idea came from Zach Lieberman. He does this exercise at the start of every session of School of Poetic Computation in New York.

Different freedoms: Open Source vs. Closed Source. Is this Political?
Different interaction methods: Text based vs. Graphical User Interface vs. Node based vs. Live coding vs. ? Is this a matter of style?
Different deployment platforms: desktop vs. web/cloud vs. smartphone vs. new hardware vs. paper vs. TV vs. games vs. drone vs. ? What does this mean?
Different costs? What other ethical concerns? Questions?

Different freedoms: Unity vs. Unreal Engine vs. openFrameworks vs. Swift vs. Kotlin vs. ?
Different interaction methods: p5.js vs. Disguise vs. VVVV or 4V vs. Hydra (more here!)vs. Twine vs. ?
Different deployment platforms: Cinder vs. three.js vs. Pixi.js vs. LÖVE vs. Cards Against Humanity vs. The Wall vs. Fortnite (made in Unreal Engine) vs. Drone Racing League vs. ?
Different number of developers, different cost of developers, different styles of developers, different age of platform, different sustainability of platform, different payment platforms...
Questions?

It's in your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), right now!
It was orginally developed in 1995, in 10 days, by one person!
It works pretty much everywhere in the software world. As well as in browsers, Javascript runs many apps and on countless servers in the cloud. Apart from the Stackoverflow one, here is another on the State of JavaScript in 2018.
It has hilarious bugs and oddities (or used to).
It shares some aspects with Java, but they are completely separate programming languages and differ importantly in design.
It's the most popularprogramming language in the world in 2019.
The p5.js wiki has a great introduction to JavaScript. Let's take a look together.

Processing.
p5.js by Lauren McCarthy and others.
ml5.js by staff and students of NYU ITP. A good article on ml5.js
Quick explanation of the different between classical programming and machine learning (more coming on Friday from Mick):
pts.js by William Ngan and others.

p5.js web editor. We'll be using this primarily to work with for the first half of this term.
Glitch. Glitch is great becase you can add whole Javascript libraries to it, databases and connect to other web sites. But they are a startup, not a foundation like Processing is.
Both the p5.js web editor and Glitch allow you to write code on the web. As you write it you can share it with others or publish it.
Visual Studio Code text editor (use this for making software on your own computer). You'll have to upload your code to the web manually (using an FTP program like CyberDuck on the Mac or WinSCP on Windows) or using Git with GitHub (more on Git and GitHub next week).
VS Code is now the most popular text editor amongst developers.
Two great articles on VS Code.
Brilliant video (as always) on setting up VS Code by Daniel Shiffman.

openFrameworks.
Founded by Zach Lieberman, Theo Watson and Arturo Castro.
Zach, Theo and I founded a company called YesYesNo in 2008, only Zach is still involved. Theo co-founded a studio called Design I/O (does that remind you of the computer art diagram?) in 2010.
Great book on learning openFrameworks (and other things, like C++ and graphics and how to keep installations with software running 4evr): the oFBook.

Unreal Engine is interesting - currently in use by Nintendo to make Zelda Breath of the Wild. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. Anyone used it? I want to next term.
Blender is an interesting platform - combining 3d modelling, rendering, animation tools, editing and a real time game engine. Has anyone else tried it? I want to next term.
Rubber Duck Debugging is a useful tool. Try it. Would you find one useful?

Thanks!