Processing is now 25 years old, which is a great milestone for a piece of software that is basically designed to make people creative. And not only does it still exist, it has grown into a complete ecosystem: the original Processing in Java is still active and used, there is p5.js, which is where I originally started, and there are all the other community projects and ports to different languages.
So this event is more of a thank you to Processing for existing in the first place, and a chance to bring the community together, to show their creativity and work on stuff they really enjoy.
The event was organized by Abdo (me!) and Prof. Jan-Henning, who kindly offered us, from Media University Berlin, a room for the event.
We had a schedule, but we didn't stick to it as strictly as we hoped, which is not a bad thing at all. It's good to be a bit more flexible and adapt to the people who are there, since you are the community and we're doing this for you.
Our main hope was to inspire everyone, and to show that you don't have to be an extremely good programmer or a designer to do something creative. It doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to be big, it just has to be something that you enjoy. And as long as you are happy with it, I don't think what anyone else thinks actually matters. Everyone got the chance to talk about whatever they find interesting.
When you see people passionate about something, you learn small fun things you have never thought about. Like if you have a pen plotter and draw the same line 20 times, you will dig a hole in the paper. I don't have a pen plotter, but maybe that's the first mistake you do once you buy one.
I would absolutely say that community is the best way to get into this. There is Creative Code Berlin, organized by Rafael, with a Stammtisch on the first Friday of each month, where a lot of creative coders meet and you see a lot of show and tell. They also organize jam sessions if you want to grind on coding and get your creative stuff done.
Everyone has their own area of expertise. If you're interested in how to simulate light going through tree leaves to get a realistic shadow, you will find someone with a PhD in physics who is doing exactly that.
Thank you for coming to Processing Community Day 2026 in Berlin, see you in 2027?
