Acknowledgments
The world around us moves in complicated and wonderful ways. We spend the earlier parts of our lives learning about our environment through perception and interaction. We expect the physical world around us to behave consistently with our perceptual memory, e.g., if we drop a rock, it will fall due to gravity, if a gust of wind blows, lighter objects will be tossed by the wind further. This class focuses on understanding, simulating, and incorporating motion-based elements of our physical world into the digital worlds that we create. Our hope is to create intuitive, rich, and more satisfying experiences by drawing from the perceptual memories of our users.
—James Tu, Dynamic Bodies course description, Spring 2003, ITP
In 2003, as a graduate student at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, I enrolled in a course called Dynamic Bodies. The course was taught by interaction designer and ITP adjunct professor James Tu. At the time, my work was focused on a series of software experiments that generated real-time, nonphotorealistic imagery. The applications involved capturing images from a live source and “painting” the colors with elements that moved about the screen according to various rules. Tu’s course—which covered vectors, forces, oscillations, particle systems, recursion, steering, and springs—aligned perfectly with my work.
I had been using these concepts informally in my own projects but had never taken the time to closely examine the science behind the algorithms or learn object-oriented techniques to formalize their implementation. That very semester, I also enrolled in Foundations of Generative Art Systems, a course taught by Philip Galanter that focused on the theory and practice of generative art, covering topics such as chaos, cellular automata, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and fractals. Both Tu’s and Galanter’s courses opened my eyes to the world of simulation algorithms—techniques that carried me through the next several years of work and teaching and that served as the foundation and inspiration for this book.
But another piece of the puzzle is missing from this story.
Galanter’s course was mostly theory based, while Tu’s was taught using Macromedia Director and the Lingo programming language. That semester, I learned many of the algorithms by translating them into C++ (the language I was using quite awkwardly at the time, well before C++ creative coding environments like openFrameworks and Cinder had arrived). Toward the end of the semester, however, I discovered something called Processing. Processing was in alpha then (version 0055), and having had some experience with Java, I was intrigued enough to ask the question, Could this open source, artist-friendly programming language and environment be the right place to develop a suite of tutorials and examples about programming and simulation? With the support of the ITP and Processing communities, I embarked on what has now been an almost 20-year journey of teaching coding.
I’d like to first thank Red Burns, who led ITP through its first 30 years and passed away in 2013. Red supported and encouraged me in my work for well over 10 years. Dan O’Sullivan, the associate dean of Emerging Media at the Tisch School of the Arts, has been a mentor and was the first to suggest that I try teaching a course on Processing, giving me a reason to start assembling programming tutorials in the first place. Shawn Van Every, current chair of the department, was my officemate during my first year of teaching full-time, and has been a rich source of help and inspiration over the years. I am grateful for the support and encouragement of ITP professor Luisa Pereira. Her work on her upcoming book, Code of Music, was deeply inspiring. Her innovative approach to interactive educational materials helped me rethink and redefine my own writing and publishing process.
The vibrant and nurturing environment of ITP has been shaped by so many incredible individuals. Whether they were colleagues from the early days of this book’s conception or newer faces bringing fresh waves of inspiration, I’m so thankful to the full-time faculty of ITP/IMA: Ali Santana, Allison Parrish, Blair Simmons, Clay Shirky, Craig Protzel, Danny Rozin, David Rios, Gabe Barcia-Colombo, Katherine Dillon, Marianne Petit, Marina Zurkow, Matt Romein, Mimi Yin, Nancy Hechinger, Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira, Sarah Rothberg, Sharon De La Cruz, Tom Igoe, and Yeseul Song.
The dedicated and tireless staff at ITP and NYU’s Interactive Media Arts (IMA) play such a vital role in keeping the ecosystem thriving and making everything. My thanks go to the many people I’ve worked with over the years: Adrian Mandeville, Brian Kim, Daniel Tsadok, Dante Delgiacco, Edward Gordon, Emma Asumeng, George Agudow, John Duane, Lenin Compres, Luke Bunn, Marlon Evans, Matt Berger, Megan Demarest, Midori Yasuda, Phil Caridi, Rob Ryan, Scott Broussard, and Shirley Lin.
A special note of thanks goes to ITP adjunct faculty members Ellen Nickles and Nuntinee Tansrisakul, who co-taught an online, asynchronous version of the Nature of Code course with me in 2021, amid the peak of a global pandemic. Their contributions and the ideas from that semester greatly enriched the course materials.
The students of ITP and IMA, too numerous to mention, have been an amazing source of feedback throughout this process. Much of the material in this book comes from my course of the same title, which I’ve now taught 17 times. I have stacks of draft printouts of the book with notes scrawled in the margins, as well as a vast archive of student emails with corrections, comments, and generous words of encouragement.
I would like to spotlight several students who worked as graduate associates on the Nature of Code materials. Through their work with the ITP/IMA Equitable Syllabus project, Briana Jones and Chaski No provided extraordinary research support that expanded the book’s concepts and references. As the graduate assistant for the inaugural undergraduate version of the Nature of Code class, Gracy Whelihan offered invaluable support and feedback, and always reminded me of the wonder of random numbers.
Jason Gao and Stuti Mohgaonkar worked on the build systems for the book materials, inventing new workflows for writing and editing. Elias Jarzombek also warrants a mention for his advice and technical support, stemming from the Code of Music book project.
After graduating, Jason Gao continued to develop the Nature of Code website. If you head there now, you will see the fruits of his many talents: a full version of the book that seamlessly integrates with the p5.js web editor. It’s a realization far beyond my initial vision.
The interior of the book along with the website was meticulously designed by Tuan Huang. Tuan began developing layout ideas while taking the Nature of Code class in the spring of 2023. After graduating, Tuan further refined the design, working to develop a consistent visual language across the many elements of the book. Her minimal and elegant aesthetics greatly enhanced the book’s visual appeal and accessibility. A special thanks also to the OpenMoji project—the open source emoji and icon project (Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0)—for providing a delightful and comprehensive set of emojis used throughout this book for various elements.
I’m also indebted to the energetic and supportive creative coding community and the Processing Foundation. I wouldn’t be writing this book if it weren’t for Casey Reas and Ben Fry, who created Processing in 2001 and co-founded the Processing Foundation. They’ve dedicated over 20 years to building and maintaining the software and its community. I’ve learned half of what I know simply from reading through the Processing source code and documentation; the elegant simplicity of the Processing language, website, and IDE is the original source of inspiration for all my work and teaching.
Lauren Lee McCarthy, the creator of p5.js, planted the seed that made everything possible for transforming the book into JavaScript. She’s a tireless champion for inclusion and access in open source, and her approach to community building has been profoundly inspiring to me. Cassie Tarakajian invented the p5.js web editor, a heroic undertaking that has made it possible to collect and organize all the example code in the book.
My heartfelt thanks extend to the other current and former members (along with Casey, Ben, and Lauren) of the Processing board of directors: Dorothy Santos, Johanna Hedva, Kate Hollenbach, and Xin Xin. A special acknowledgment to the project leads, staff, and alumni of the foundation, who have each played a pivotal role in shaping and propelling the community and its projects: Andres Colubri, Charles Reinhardt, evelyn masso, Jesse C. Thompson, Jonathan Feinberg, Moira Turner, Qianqian Ye, Rachel Lim, Raphaël de Courville, Saber Khan, Suhyun (Sonia) Choi, Toni Pizza, Tsige Tafesse, and Xiaowei R. Wang.
In Chapter 10, I introduce the ml5.js project, a companion library to p5.js that aims to bring machine learning capabilities to creative coders in a friendly and approachable manner. Thank you to the numerous researchers and students at ITP/IMA who contributed to its development: Ashley Lewis, Bomani McClendon, Christina Dacanay, Cristóbal Valenzuela, Lydia Jessup, Miaoye Que, Michael Weinberg, Ozi Chukwukeme, Sam Krystal, Yining Shi, and Ziyuan (Peter) Lin. I’d like to especially thank Joey K. Lee, who provided valuable advice and feedback on the Nature of Code book itself while working on ml5.js.
I would also like to thank AI researcher David Ha, whose research on neuroevolution (see “Additional Resources” on the book’s website) inspired me to create examples implementing the technique with ml5.js and add a new chapter to this book.
For the last 10 years, I’ve spent the bulk of my time making video tutorials on my YouTube channel, the Coding Train. I’m incredibly grateful for the immense support and collaboration from so many people in keeping the engines running and on the tracks (as much as I work very hard to veer off), including Chloe Desaulles, Cy X, David Snyder, Dusk Virkus, Elizabeth Perez, Jason Heglund, Katie Chan, Kline Gareth, Kobe Liesenborgs, and Mathieu Blanchette. A special thanks to Melissa Rodriguez, who helped research and secure permissions for the images you see at the start of each chapter.
My thanks also extend to the Nebula streaming platform and its CEO, Dave Wiskus, for their unwavering support, and to Nebula creator Grady Hillhouse, who recommended I collaborate with No Starch Press to actually print this darn thing. I wouldn’t be able to reach such a wide audience without the YouTube platform itself; a special thanks goes to my illustrious YouTube partner manager, Dean Kowalski, as well as to Doreen Tran, who helps lead YouTube Skilling for North America.
I have many thoughtful, smart, generous, and kind viewers. I’d like to especially thank Dipam Sen, Francis Turmel, Kathy McGuiness, and Simon Tiger, who offered advice, feedback, corrections, technical support, and more. The book is so much better because of them.
I also would like to thank many people who collaborated with me over 10 years ago on the 2012 edition: David Wilson (book cover and design), Rune Madsen and Steve Klise (build system and website), Shannon Fry (editing), Evan Emolo, Miguel Bermudez, and all the Kickstarter backers who helped fund the work.
A special mention goes to Zannah Marsh, who worked tirelessly to create over 100 illustrations for the 2012 version of this book, and by some miracle agreed to do it all again for this new edition. I especially want to thank her for her patience and willingness to go with the flow as I changed my mind on certain illustrations way too many times. And the cats! I smile from ear to ear every time I see them typing.
Now, the real reason we’re all here. If it weren’t for No Starch Press, I’m almost certain you’d never be reading these words. Sure, you might be perusing updated tutorials on the website, but the collaboration, support, and thoughtful and kind deadline setting of the team was the thing that really pushed me over the hump. I want to express my gratitude to editor Nathan Heidelberger, who is responsible for this book making any sense at all, not to mention for all the legitimately funny jokes. (The blame for any bad puns lies squarely with me.) Thank you to Jasper Palfree, the technical editor, who patiently explained to me, as many times as it took for me to grok, the difference between linear and rotational motion (and clarified countless other science and code concepts). I also want to extend special thanks to copyeditor Sharon Wilkey, whose meticulous attention to detail polished every sentence and provided the perfect finishing touches. Thank you to the founder of No Starch, Bill Pollock, who taught me everything I need to know about shopping at Trader Joe’s; managing editor Jill Franklin, for her kind and patient support; and the production team, led by senior production editor Jennifer Kepler and production manager Sabrina Plomitallo-González, who accommodated my unusual Notion → GitHub → PDF workflow.
Finally, a heartfelt thank-you to my wife, Aliki Caloyeras, who is always right. Seriously, it’s like a superpower at this point. I love you. To my children, Elias, who graciously allows me to maintain a semblance of dignity by not utterly obliterating me at basketball and video games, and Olympia, who reminds me “I’m feeling 22” when we play backgammon and cards and laugh together. I’d also like to thank my father, Bernard Shiffman, who generously lent his mathematical expertise and provided feedback along the way, as well as my mother, Doris Yaffe Shiffman, and brother, Jonathan Shiffman, who were always tremendously supportive in asking the question, “How is the book coming along?”