(2) Getting set up

Ok, so you want to explore programming. To start head over to the processing home page at:


         http://processing.org

Then navigate to the download page (donate money if you like, or later if you end up liking it, no pressure) and select your operating system. If you do not know if you have 32-bit or 64-bit windows, then you can always select the 32-bit version (or you can right click on "Computer" and select properties, like shown below to find out if you have 32-bit or 64-bit):

Download and you will get a ".zip" file in your download directory. Extract the files, to the desktop for instance, and you are done.

Now, go into the new directory (on the desktop) and you can start processing by double-clicking on the "processing" icon. You should then soon see:

Now we are ready to test our very first program. Enter this into the window, or copy and paste it:

void setup () { 
  size(400, 400);
}

void draw () {
  ellipse(mouseX, mouseY, 20, 20);
}

Easy? Right. Now press the "play" button (or Menu:Sketch->Run). You will get something like this after running over the window with the mouse:

That's it. Your first program and that was not too hard, was it?