The Nature of Code: Simulating Natural Systems with Processing

I teach high school physics, and have always tried to incorporate a bit of programming into class - solving physics problems and writing code are similar ways of thinking. I came to Processing via the Arduino board while doing "physical computing" with my AP students. Students with no programming experience found Arduino and Processing more accessible than previous classes had found BASIC or VPython, and students with a bit of computing background like Processing's similarity to Java, so it's a language I think I'll stay with for a while for a beginners' class. The book is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for; a framework for coding simple simulations in physics, so that students could see the power of physics as the "engine" behind how things move. They aren't flashy or 3d, but that keeps them simple enough for beginners to grasp, and keeps the focus on the basic principles. Shiffman's writing is clear and to the point, and he goes beyond the traditional physics topics to incorporate cellular automata and neural networks to keep things interesting. I only use a few of the examples with my students, as the book is easily long enough to be a text for a whole course. All physics teacher with an interest in coding should have this on their shelves, where the students can and see leaf through it. Very well done.

The Nature of Code teaches how to simulate natural systems using the Processing program language. Processing is a programming language has built in functionality for simulating natural events, and the language is similar to Java. Beginning chapters are focused on physics and calculus. There were some of the best explanations I have ever seen for showing the concepts and how formulas work. I was thinking how much better it would have been if I had learned calculus from a book like this. There are excellent details how forces, vectors, and angles work. Working examples are implemented in using Processing. The middle of the book tells you which libraries are useful. The author takes the time to explain which parts you want to implement your self and when you should rely on a given library. Later parts of the book go into more advanced natural systems such as simulating biological events. Some genetic algorithms are presented, and lastly the building blocks of neural networks are examined. Descriptions are geared towards beginners and the walk through is quite detailed. This book works whether you want to learn programming or simulate natural events. Examples are shown from a beginner's perspective in a way that leads the reader to clearer understanding.

I've been using Shiffman's "Learning Processing" book at the text for an intro programming course...a course aimed at computer science and software engineering majors, with a goal of learning Java. Processing has proven to be an enticing way to introduce and gradually make the transition into Java. "Learning Processing" has proven to be a great way to teach it. Now, Shiffman's "The Nature of Code" takes the material to the next level, with intelligent and well-organized coverage of in-depth topics such as vectors, fractals, and cellular automata. I would not recommend beginning programming with this book (though it could be done by a dedicated learner). Rather, I think it helps to be familiar with programming in Processing, and to at least feel comfortable around mathematics. Don't get me wrong...you don't have to be a math whiz to appreciate this book, but Shiffman does not shy away from presenting the necessary mathematics to really help the reader "get" the programming concepts. This could easily become the text for a follow-up to the course I've been teaching. One additional note: it's worth finding Shiffman's website for this book, so that you get a better appreciation for how he went about publishing it and releasing it. He deserves a lot of credit for approaching it the way he did. If someone asks me for a Processing book recommendation, I have typically recommend Shiffman's "Learning Processing". Now, I have a pair of books to recommend...his Processing books are easily my favorite!

A fantastic resource! However, there are a number of typesetting and formatting issues on the Kindle version, as read on both an iPad and laptop, that are not on the PDF version. I've purchased both, and suggest purchasing the PDF version from Mr. Shiffman's website.

This book contains a lot of interesting and useful information on how to simulate various natural processes, such as tree branching, natural selection, agents moving around in their environment, etc. The emphasis is on creating visually beautiful and exciting applications without clinging to the detailed physics at all times. As a biologists I find that this would have been the perfect book for an undergraduate class on computer simulation for biologists. Processing is a fun language and this book makes it easy to learn concepts such as object oriented programming. I learned Processing and Java a few years ago and used this book to learn C++. The concepts from the book can easily be transferred to any programming language, although it helps if a good drawing framework can be used. In my case I used the fabulous Cinder framework (libcinder.org). I translated most of the examples. Info about the C++ code can be found here: [...]

Do buy this book. It is very well written. Author has put a lot of effort in it. It is self published with high quality content and printing. I am an experienced programmer, but still could learn a lot from what this guy has to tell. I am hoping he publishes other titles. Text flows well, pictures are clean and neatly done (which again shows the care the author had with book quality), text font is well chosen, printing is great. Everything in this book shows how much work and effort the author put in it to make it a good book. And he succeeded. The book is fun to read. It is interesting. It has content. It has good examples. I am happy with it. Thumbs up.

This is a gentle introduction to the Processing language geared mostly towards beginners/artists who wish to explore writing Processing sketches to simulate the natural world. If you are an experienced programmer in a Java or C++ like programming language you will breeze through it very quickly. However, unlike most other programming books geared towards the beginner this one introduces the reader to more advanced topics like vector math, physics, rudimentary AI, and particle systems in a very accessible way while also introducing more and more features of the language itself. Each chapter builds on the one before it. Obviously, it's not going to be a really deep dive into any of these topics but I feel that Mr. Shiffman overwhelmingly succeeded in presenting the fundamentals of several advanced topics in a very accessible way.

Seriously, this is a masterpiece. I’m only a few chapters in and it’s blowing my mind. I’ve been casually reading it before bed and practicing the concepts in the morning. Recently my girlfriend could not sleep and woke me up, demanding that I talk her to sleep. Immediately, I grabbed The Nature of Code. Needless to say; she fell fast asleep and I stayed up wayyyy too late. What can I say, particles are exciting. Thanks for your hard work Daniel!