9
edits
Changes
→Background
The Processing.js project was started by John Resig who wanted to utilize the HTML5 canvas element and take advantage of the Java Processing language. It took about seven months to get a working version, consisting of 5000 lines of code but it was not a complete port of the Processing language. The project, similarly to other open source products, was released with the hope that a developer community will converge around it and contribute to development. In September 2009, we began the work to complete the Processing.js. In order to facilitate an architecture for participation the source code had to be readily available and the inner workings of the project and the missing functionality must be publicized. To this end the source code was made available publicly on GitHub and an issue tracking system was used to manage the large number of issues needed to be resolved in order to complete the port. A review process was setup to ensure that the code submitted was of sufficient quality.
From it's inception, Processing.js was designed to be more than just a rewrite of the Java functions provided by Processing to JavaScript. John Resig wrote the original Processing.js parser to scan a Processing sketch for hints of Java code and convert that code to JavaScript. However, if the parser encountered JavaScript code, it would leave the code intact. This method allowed not only for the interpretation of existing Processing code to JavaScript but the injection of JavaScript into Processing sketches. By allowing JavaScript to exist within a Processing Sketch intact, Java and JavaScript code can exist together without any need to declare the language you are using. Old sketches written for Processing will work but new sketches written for Processing.js can not only have Processing code but can make use of JavaScript to interact with other elements of the webpage.