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The Book of Shaders VS Processing

Compare The Book of Shaders VS Processing and see what are their differences

The Book of Shaders logo The Book of Shaders

Extensive guide through fragment shaders with live coding examples

Processing logo Processing

C++ and Java programming at the speed of thought.
  • The Book of Shaders Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-05
  • Processing Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-12

We recommend LibHunt Processing for discovery and comparisons of trending Processing projects.

The Book of Shaders features and specs

  • Comprehensive Introduction
    The Book of Shaders provides a thorough introduction to the fundamentals of shader programming, making it accessible for beginners.
  • Interactive Examples
    It includes interactive examples that allow readers to experiment with code snippets in real-time, enhancing the learning experience through hands-on practice.
  • Clear Explanations
    The book offers clear and concise explanations of complex concepts, helping readers to grasp tricky topics more easily.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source resource, it is freely available to anyone interested, promoting wider accessibility and learning opportunities.
  • Gradual Progression
    The content is structured to gradually increase in complexity, enabling learners to build their knowledge step-by-step.

Possible disadvantages of The Book of Shaders

  • Advanced Topics
    It may not cover some advanced topics in-depth, which could require readers to seek additional resources for more complex shader programming concepts.
  • Online Format Limitations
    As an online resource, it may not be as convenient for some users who prefer physical books or offline materials for study.
  • Limited Context
    The book focuses specifically on GLSL shaders and may not provide broader context or applications in different graphics programming environments.
  • Assumes Basic Graphics Knowledge
    Some sections might assume a basic understanding of graphics programming, which could be challenging for absolute beginners without any prior exposure.

Processing features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Processing has a simple and straightforward syntax, making it accessible for beginners and quick for prototyping.
  • Visualization Capabilities
    Processing excels at creating visually appealing graphics, animations, and interactive content.
  • Active Community
    Processing has a large, active community that contributes tutorials, examples, libraries, and forums support.
  • Cross-Platform
    Processing is cross-platform, allowing developers to run their sketches on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Educational Focus
    Processing is designed with teaching in mind and is widely used in educational settings to teach programming concepts.
  • Integration with Other Tools
    Processing can be easily integrated with other creative coding tools and software such as Arduino.

Possible disadvantages of Processing

  • Performance Limitations
    Processing may not be the best choice for highly performance-critical applications, especially those requiring intense computation.
  • Limited Functionality
    While great for graphics and animation, Processing might be limited for other types of development like database-driven applications.
  • Java Dependency
    Processing is built on top of Java, which may not be ideal or preferred for all users, especially those who do not wish to work with Java.
  • Scalability Issues
    Processing sketches might face challenges when scaling up to large or more complex projects.
  • Basic IDE
    The Processing IDE is quite basic compared to more advanced development environments, potentially limiting for complex project management.

The Book of Shaders videos

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Processing videos

Processing - Kickstarter Board Game Review

More videos:

  • Review - Processing or p5.js? My opinions
  • Review - Processing: A Game of Serving Humanity Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to The Book of Shaders and Processing)
3D
15 15%
85% 85
VJ
25 25%
75% 75
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Interactive Exhibits
30 30%
70% 70

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Processing should be more popular than The Book of Shaders. It has been mentiond 340 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

The Book of Shaders mentions (146)

  • WebGL Water
    I like https://thebookofshaders.com/ . It’s unfinished and I don’t think it’s been updated in years, but what’s there is pretty good. - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • Shadertoys Ported to Rust GPU
    FYI apparently the www.* link doesn't actually have the menu for some reason? It's just the world graphic and a blank menu bar. You need to visit http://thebookofshaders.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Dissecting "Tiny Clouds" shadertoy (2017)
    Yes, but you can learn it! 1. Get inspired, get motivated. Shaders like these are breathtaking: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/l3cfW4 2. Watch "Learn to paint with mathematics" to see a simple shader being built gradually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ifChJ0nJfM 3. Work through https://thebookofshaders.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Tiny Glade 'built' its way to >600k sold in a month
    The Book of Shaders (https://thebookofshaders.com/) perhaps? It's about shaders rather than geometry but it felt like a good introduction to generating things with programmatically. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Breaking Down the WebGL Triangle Setup
    In the code above we are creating both a vertexShader and fragmentShader constant and storing the shader code in them. The Book of Shaders is a great resource for learning how to write GLSL code. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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Processing mentions (340)

  • Processing Foundation is hiring a Processing Project Lead!
    You can learn more about the Processing software and community at processing.org, or visit the Processing4 repository, Processing website repository, and our roadmap. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • Cloth
    >web dev/gradle/java knowledge to build something like this Web dev (and not just in java) is dominated by "component integration" concerns, containing lots of structure but little content. Computation is delegated to libraries, and the problems more about complexity of integration (at build time) scaled distributed systems (at runtime). In contrast, writing a simulation is computationally intensive, so... - Source: Hacker News / 19 days ago
  • Relax while watching bouncing particles making connections when they get closer
    See https://bleuje.com/animationsite/2024_1/ for a collection of programmatic black and white animations made with https://processing.org/ He even publishes the source code on https://github.com/Bleuje/processing-animations-code/tree/ma.... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Cosy Computing
    This is a nice comment and speaks to the notion that every medium has its own characteristic feel even is not "better" by some metric (e.g. Vinyl vs CDs, vs cassettes, vs live radio, vs mp3, etc.). A similar feeling of immediacy without any intervening concerns is hacking away at a Processing [https://processing.org/] sketch. In some sense it's the complete opposite of retro computing, but it engenders similar... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Want to be a software engineer? The difficulty of top down learning.
    In high school the first languages and tools I remember using were things like Turing, Processing, GreenFoot and BlueJ. All of which were learning tools, and with the exception of Turing, were Java abstractions with the main focus on graphical programming. These tools allowed me to do some pretty cool things, very quickly. These early experience are really what inspired my interest. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing The Book of Shaders and Processing, you can also consider the following products

Shadertoy - Build shaders, share them, and learn from the best community.

p5.js - JS library for creating graphic and interactive experiences

SHADERed - Lightweight, full-featured desktop tool for creating and testing HLSL and GLSL shaders

OpenFrameworks - openFrameworks

GLSL Sandbox - An online GSGL Shader Gallery and live development tool.

TouchDesigner - TouchDesigner is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences.