Starting Out in Creative Coding with P5

Learning to program can be a real challenge. One key difficulty is dealing with the abstract nature of coding. Juggling multiple abstract ideas in your head is not easy!

In this course, students create and interact with vision and sound so that these abstract ideas become real sensory experiences.

We will code using a Javascript-based language called P5, which is popular with artists and other creative people.

This course is ideal for those who want to learn to program from scratch or want to consolidate their previous learning. The computational thinking skills gained are transferrable to other programming languages.

Course Outline

Level

• For absolute beginners, suitable if you are completely new to programming. Students will be guided as needed to complete the programming tasks.

Suitable For

• Adults and Teenagers

Description

• Create visual and aural experiences through coding with P5.

Interactions

You will learn how to make our programs interact with users using the keyboard, mouse and touch.

Programming

• You will learn the fundamental coding constructs needed to create working programs.

Media

You will learn how to manipulate images and sound and interact with a webcam.

Projects

You will attempt a significant project to consolidate your learning. Ideas for the project will be provided, but you may wish to explore your own creative ideas.

Duration

10 hours (usually over 2 days)

Skills you will pick up in the course

Key skill categories

• Programming basics
• P5 programming

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the basic programming constructs
• Use code to draw on the screen
• Use code to interact with the user
• Turn ideas into complete programs