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The language site: http://processing.org/
What are people using Processing for? I have the opportunity to learn this in a classroom setting and am wondering if it will be a good use of my time.
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Processing, a programming language based on Java, allows its users to code within the context of visual arts and has been designed from the ground up to provide instant visual feedback.
Processing has been used for hundreds of high-end projects in a wide range of fields, from multimedia installations to information visualization. It is not a toy or an educational exercise, despite its roots as a teaching tool.
Processing is based on Java, but because program elements in Processing are fairly simple, you can learn to use it even if you don't know any Java. If you're familiar with Java, it's best to forget that Processing has anything to do with Java for a while, until you get the hang of how the API works.
Clojure is being used extensively for processing large volumes of data. It is very well suited to data mining/commercial-AI (ie: Runa) and large scale predictions (aka WeatherBill). Clojure's concurrency story really helps in these data heavy domains where parallel processing is simply the only answer.
I agree with what the other posters have said, but I would add that every development tool has advantages and disadvantages. While it is easy to jump right in and visualize stuff with processing, the drawback is that it is hard to incorporate processing code into another project. Tools are in development to make this easier, but if you want a graphical environment that works in your application, all the time that processing saves you when prototyping is mostly lost in the re-adaptation of the code or getting it to work.
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Yes, it is useful and not a waste of time. I'm using Processing mainly for building proof-of-concepts for visualisations and graphic experiments. The time between an idea in my head and working code on my laptop is small, mainly because Processing does not throw too many obstacles in that course.
The ease of experimenting with things in Processing is an advantage in learning to program. Processing is actually a front-end to Java programs. At run-time the Processing code is translated to Java code.
Processing comes with a small but capable development environment (IDE), excellent documentation, a large library of extensions and a significant set of examples and demos.
Finally, I strongly recommend the book Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists by Casey Reas and Ben Fry, the authors of Processing. It's a beautiful book, carefully edited and full of sources for inspiration.
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