Processing.

Computer animations and graphics are what keeps kids and dults alike glued to the computer screen. No no, I’m not wrinting about a new animation movie. This one is for all those who are interested in CREATING anmations, applications, and games. Interested? Read on.

Processing is more like a customized IDE (Integrated Development Environment) rather than a new programming language. It is built over java and is very easy to learn. If you know basic C or C++, you are good to go! But it shouldn’t be too tough for absolute beginners. What scares most of the students away from programming is that it is fantastically boring, and they can’t really do anything with what they have learned until they learn all those ‘advanced’ stuff. Now processing is not like that! You can create cute interactive applets from your very beginning. No, processing is not some kind of stupid program that lets you create virtual puppets. You will have to actually code to do things. Let me straighten things up : Writing graphical programs is no easy task. Sometimes programmers will have to spend the first two days just laying the base for all those grpahical stuff. I’m not trying to confuse you but let us say that processing makes writing graphical applications way easier. The IDE converts all your code into pure java when you hit the ‘run’ button. got my point? Processing is actually java.
Go see for yourself. They have really good demonstrations at the ‘exhibition’ section.

http://www.processing.org