Books, online references and links for learning p5.js, JavaScript, computer graphics and interaction art, as recommended in COMP1720/COMP6720.
Textbooks (Available online through ANU Library)#
This course refers to three core books that cover p5.js, topics in interaction design, and interactive art and three extra books that have more detail on particular aspects of interactive art. The first book covers the technical content for the course, but the others will help you understand how to make interactive artworks that are good, and not just functional.
Core books:
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Make: Getting Started with p5.js. Lauren McCarthy, Casey Reas, and Ben Fry. 2015. (ANU link)
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The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Don Norman. 2013. (ANU link)
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The art of interaction: what HCI can learn from interactive art. Ernest Edmonds. 2018. (ANU link)
Extra books:
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The Nature of Code. Daniel Shiffman. 2024. (free online link)
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Electronic and Computer Music. Peter Manning. 2013 (ANU link)
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Coding Art: The Four Steps to Creative Programming with the Processing Language. Mathias Funk and Yu Zhang. 2021. (ANU link)
Art and Interaction Bibliography#
Charles Martin maintains a bibliography of useful resources about interactive computer art and music:
This list is especially useful for figuring out “recent developments” in art and interaction computing.
A snapshot of it is archived with this site on the bibliography page, so the reading list stays available even if the original moves.
The bibliography repository is on GitHub, so if you want to add something, make a pull request!
Other Resources:#
Here’s some extra references that you might find useful:
- the p5js reference has all the details on every function and variable you’ll need to care about in the p5 library
- the p5js examples page is a good place to see how different things can be done using p5
- the p5js learn page has some useful tutorials and guides
- Learn JavaScript with p5.js: Coding for Visual Learners. Engin Arslan. 2018.
- Mozilla Developer Network JavaScript reference