Processing 1.0 - Processing Discourse - What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"?

Phattee

What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"?
Sep 3^rd, 2009, 6:12pm

Hello,

This is my second attempt at tackling "Visualizing Data". My boss handed me this book a little over a year ago to get me started with Processing, but I soon found myself way over my head (my only previous programming experience was some ActionScript and some MEL Script a few years back).

Halfway through Chapter 3, I decided to call it quits and I spent about a year going through "Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists" in detail.

I recently started again with "Visualizing Data", only to find myself barely able to plod through Chapter 5, and spending a lot of time consulting Java documentation. This leads me to believe that once again I might be in way over my head.

So my question is this: do I need a high level of familiarity with Java to be able to get the most out of this book?

I'm enrolling in a Java class this fall and I'm going through the book "Head First Java", but I'm just wondering just how essential this detour is in order to be able to continue with "Visualizing Data" and Processing in general.

subpixel

Re: What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"?
Reply #1 - Sep 3^rd, 2009, 9:28pm

This might seem obvious but...

If the purpose of your boss giving you "Visualising Data" was to get you into Processing, and you are now into Processing by some other means, if you don't like the VD book, just give it back and say you don't need it.

On the other hand, if the VD book is about what your boss wants you to do (in Processing or otherwise), perhaps you need to look at some instruction that is about that topic.

Learning high(er)-level Java to understand a book to get into Processing for some other purpose might work, but might also not be the best use of your time and sanity.

-spxl

Processing: subpixels.com, OpenProcessing.org | VJ portfolio: SPXL.TV

ps

Re: What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"?
Reply #2 - Sep 15^th, 2009, 4:34am

depends how serious your projects might be.
some things require high skill knowledge to hack it to work. others not really.
if you keep the graphics simple then processing should be enough for you with a standard coding skill level. if you want to do things that processing doesnt handle natively very well, you'll need to get into java for real, and thats a whole different can of worms. you might just as well be better off learning c++ opengl from ground up instead imho.

other than that, the trick to getting higher skill level in programming is to practise code more and read about it less. you'll bonk heads into lots of problems for sure. figuring out how to solve them (and talking with others about it) will educate you on the language/ide quirks alot quicker then any book. but thats just my opinion, im sure others could disagree.

ps from the planet of leather moomins - enough is enough

lubuativilux

Re: What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"?
Reply #3 - Sep 16^th, 2009, 10:44am

ps wrote on Sep 15^th, 2009, 4:34am:

depends how serious your projects might be.
some things require high skill knowledge to hack it to work. others not really.
if you keep the graphics simple then processing should be enough for you with a standard coding skill level. if you want to do things that processing doesnt handle natively very well, you'll need to get into java for real, and thats a whole different can of worms. you might just as well be better off learning c++ opengl from ground up instead imho.

other than that, the trick to getting higher skill level in programming is to practise code more and read about it less. you'll bonk heads into lots of problems for sure. figuring out how to solve them (and talking with others about it) will educate you on the language/ide quirks alot quicker then any book. but thats just my opinion, im sure others could disagree.

lubuativilux YaBB Newbies Offline Posts: 8	Re: What skill level is needed for "Visualizing Data"? Reply #4 - Sep 16^th, 2009, 10:44am