shiffman's ICM @NYU

Introduction to Computational Media @NYU
by Daniel Shiffman
http://itp.nyu.edu/icm/shiffman/

daniel.shiffman@nyu.edu
http://www.shiffman.net

Introduction to Computational Media @NYU
Main ICM site   http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/ICM

Week 1: Intro to Computer Graphics

programming

programming; the process of creating steps for a computer to perform a desired task.

The order of the instructions is just as important as the instructions themselves!

algorithm; a procedure or formula for solving a problem

data; the stuff that the program knows about and operates on

IMPORTANT ALGORITHM CONSTRUCTS:

Sequence:  series of steps

Selection:  choice between alternative paths

Iteration:  repetition

Steps for developing your program

# Specify your idea / problem to solve.

# Design an algorithm (sequence of steps) for implementing the idea.

# Express the algorithm as a computer program in a programming language.

# Compile and run the program.

Processing

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound. It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry (Broad Institute) and Casey Reas (UCLA Design | Media Arts). Processing evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.

* Processing is an extension of Java and supports many of the existing Java structures, but with a simplified syntax. The application runs locally and exports programs to Java applets, which may be viewed over the Internet.

# index.html -- html source for viewing the applet page

# filename.jar -- compiled applet classes

# filename.pde -- source code

ref.

The History of Computer Programming Languages

Software Structures

Week 2 - Interaction & Variation

a variable; a named pointer to a location in the computer's memory; a storage locker for data

# Variables must have a name.

# PRIMITIVE TYPES boolean: true or false

# char: 16 bit Unicode character (0-65535)

# byte: 8 bits, -128 to 127

# short: 16 bits, -32768 to 32767

# int: 32 bits, -2147483648 to 2147483647

# long: 64 bits, -big number to big number

# float: 32 bit floating point number

# double: 64 bit floating point number