# Processing

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Processing and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, beginner-friendly environment for drawing and animating with simple code, loved for generative art and Perlin noise. One critic notes missing gradient fills.

## Why people recommend it

- Beginner friendly and easy to learn (2 comments): "easy programmability from tinker-friendly stuff like pygame or processing.org or löve" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49848156)) "noob friendly stuff like Processing and Kaboom is great and highly recommended" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47231010))
- Generative art and Perlin noise (2 comments): "I ended up learning enough processing to mimic a lot of what he did with the connected dots. It was great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47716954)) "I love Processing and Perlin noise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48556067))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Decker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/decker.md): 28 recommend
- [p5.js](https://hackerapproved.com/p/p5-js.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Processing", https://hackerapproved.com/p/processing/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).