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Processing Hour of Code (processing.org)
135 points by wittedhaddock on Nov 27, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 29 comments


The way that the video screen is occasionally moved out of the way to make room for the exercises is a really fresh take on the genre. And I like how the presenter comes off as enthusiastic but not canned. Very nice!


Yes very cool to see the video window move etc. But I really wanted to jump around (ahead) in the video/speed it up.


Jumping ahead, or rewinding to catch something you've missed. They should definitely put the transport back in there. I can see how they don't want people skipping around, but it does harm the experience a bit.


You can watch all of them on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/80274630


I'm not so sure. He seems a bit too enthusiastic to me; slightly artificial.


What if turns out to be exactly like that in real life, too? :-)

I suppose it would cause some cognitive dissonance. One question I had while thinking about the (purely hypothetical) dissonance was : "Is he being overly enthusiastic, or is my low-key behaviour a subtle result of years and years of programming and debugging in an imperative model, where I literally have to internalize the computer, the Von Neumann architecture, and did I somehow end up being an unemotional VERSION of IT, a robot-human hybrid?!". A horrific thought, eh?! :-)


Just the opposite:

Von Neumann programming would make you overly excitable, what with all these state changes and side effects.

Pure functional programming leads to immutable calm.


Ha ha, thanks for the interesting perspective + play on words; "immutable calm" is a gem. You've got me worried, though; I AM overly excitable! Luckily, that excitement is due to the elegance of my / the solutions to the Scala programming assignments in the ongoing Coursera courses, so there may be some "immutable calm" in my near future. :-)


I was not expecting to read a comment like that on my Wednesday afternoon. Certainly thought provoking ;)


Thank you! :-)


Mind blown!


Mind blown!


Yes, Dan is an incredibly skilled teacher. I really love this too.


If you're interesting in learning Processing, I have some notes and a couple projects that you may find useful.

https://github.com/taylorlapeyre/csc/tree/master/2700


I'd love to be able to jump to a certain point in a specific video lesson. Say I can't finish the entire lesson now, I'd like to be able to pick up where I left off previously. Instead, I'd be forced to watch what I had already watched.

Not the end of the world, but a minor feature I think most of us are used to with online video.


We're trying to figure out better ways to do this. For now if you know about where you left off you can do something like this:

http://hello.processing.org/editor/#shapes-4:20


Wow, his teaching style is amazing. I only know a few people who can make me so excited about something like that. It's definitely a personal goal for me to be able to teach that effectively.


Here is a truly wonderful book that uses Processing: http://natureofcode.com/book/

You create interactive applications using physics and simple computer graphics etc. in Processing.

It will teach everything that is necessary for animation in games for example!


Excellent format, even better for being about Processing. This (graphics + interactivity) is the kind of stuff that resonates better with beginners in programming.


Super excited presenter, he reminds me of Zach Braff for some reason. Also, WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF PROCESSING BEFORE. My weekend is saved!


I'm a recent fan of Daniel Shiffman. I just finished "The Nature of Code" the other day and can say that it was the first programming book that I didn't want to end. Glad to see him doing more teaching.


also there is the "nature of code" which is very very good.


What software was used to create this, any hints?


"Technologies This site was built using Jekyll and is hosted by GitHub Pages. Code sharing is handled by GitHub Gist and videos are hosted on Vimeo.

The basic foundation of the site was generated using Initialzr, which provided a template based on HTML5 Boilerplate, Bootstrap and Modernizr.

This site relies heavily on open Javascript frameworks and technologies, including Ace for code editing, Popcorn.js for media-driven events and Processing.js for in-browser execution of Processing code.

Additional utility libraries and plugins include jQuery, Spectrum, FileSaver.js and the Bootstrap Hover Dropdown Plugin."


Is it just me or do the videos not have playback controls? Seems absurd not to be able to scrub through these.


crashes every time I pause a video. I doubt I will be able to listen half of that talk without ability to scroll to the spot it kicked me out... but fresh UX, I like it.

edit: just saw the comment about VIMEO videos. nice.


What a teacher this guy is! Khan Academy CS also uses Processing.


WONDERFUL.

I love this guy, he's really doing a great job!


the presenter is awesome!




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