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Data visualization in a webpage beyond images typically required 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 where a plugin does not exist or cannot exist. Even Flash which is one of the most ubiquitous visual environments are not available on every platform. The only real solution to web delivery of rich graphics is to integrate it into native browser technology.
The processing language introduced by Ben Fry and Casey Reas is simple and elegent language for data visualization that is used by artists, educators as well as commercial media to delivery rich graphical content called sketches. There is a large body of work around the world which had been previously developed using processing however, this is largely not something that is consistently delivered through a web page. This is due to the fact that Processing was originally developed with Java and thus delivering Processing sketches required that the user install a Java plugin. Furthermore the sketches themselves were 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 not interact with it or vice versa. Thus, while it was possible to deliver visual content it would be difficult for to create Processing sketches to take full advantage of modern web api's.
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