Changes

Game delivery in a webpage typically required requires some sort of plug-in. However due to security concerns and general wariness to plugins, they are not the most effective means to deliver content. Furthermore there are often some platform platforms where a plugin does not exist or cannot existsuch as in the mobile environment. Even Flash which is one of the most ubiquitous visual environment environments is not available on every platform. The only real solution to web delivery of rich graphics is to integrate it into native browser technology.

The HTML <canvas> element allows the programatic programmatic delivery of graphics in a web page without plugins. With its inclusion in the soon to be released IE 9, the <canvas> element now represents a means to deliver graphical content in all the major browsers. The typical way to interact with the canvas is to use javascript and but JavaScript. However for artists, educators, and other people less familiar with JavascriptJavaScript, learning to do this can be a barrier to entry.

The Processing language introduced by Ben Fry and Casey Reas is a simple and elegant language for data visualization that is already used by artists, educators as well as commercial media to deliver rich graphical content called sketches. There is a large body of work around the world which had been previously is being developed using Processing. However, Processing was originally developed with Java and thus delivering Processing sketches on a webpage required that the user install a Java plugin. Furthermore the sketches themselves were are self contained items as opposed to being part of a web page. That is, the elements of the Document Object Model (DOM) of a webpage could can not interact with it or vice versa. Thus, while it was is possible to deliver visual content it would be difficult to create Processing sketches to take full advantage of modern web services such as flickr, twitter etc.

Processing.js is an open source, cross browser Javascript JavaScript port of the Processing language. It uses the canvas element for rendering and does not require any plug-ins. However, Processing.js is more than just a Processing parser written in JavaScript. It also enables the embedding of other web technologies into Processing sketches. This extension will allow for a new set of visualizations previously not possible. Processing.js seamlessly integrates web technologies with the processing language to provide an accessible framework for multimedia web applications.