The second edition of Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists was released in December 2014 by MIT Press.

By teaching coding with the context of the visual arts, this book introduces a new literacy with software, enabling designers and artists to create new media for the present, and to imagine future media that are beyond the capacities of current software tools. It offers a thorough introduction to Processing, an open-source programming language that is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and anyone who wants to program images, animation, and interactivity. Written by Processing’s cofounders, Casey Reas and Ben Fry, the book offers a definitive reference for students and professionals. Tutorial chapters make up the bulk of the book; advanced professional projects from such domains as animation, performance, and installation are discussed in interviews with their creators.

The second edition has been thoroughly updated, influenced by additional years of Processing being taught in classrooms, computer labs, universities, art and design schools, and arts institutions since the first edition. Every chapter has been revised, and new chapters introduce more ways to work with data and geometry. New “synthesis” chapters offer discussion and worked examples of such topics as sketching with code, modularity, and algorithms. Interviews have been added that cover a wider range of projects. “Extension” chapters are now offered online so they can be updated to keep pace with technological developments in such domains such as sound and electronics.

Interviews with SUE.C, Larry Cuba, Mark Hansen, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jürg Lehni, LettError, Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman, Benjamin Maus, Manfred Mohr, Ash Nehru, Josh On, Bob Sabiston, Jennifer Steinkamp, Jared Tarbell, Steph Thirion, and Robert Winter.

The book has been translated in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.