Processing is a language and an open-source programming environment for programming images, animations, and interactions. The project, an initiative from Ben Fry and Casey Reas, is based on ideas developed by the Aesthetics and Computation Group of the MIT Media Lab. Processing was created in order to teach the fundamentals of programming in a visual context and to serve as a sketchbook or professional software production tool. Processing runs under GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Several books have already been written on Processing.
Just like Arduino, Wiring is a programming environment with microcontroller board for exploring electronic arts, teaching programming, and quick prototyping. Wiring, programmed in Processing, is an initiative by Hernando Barragán and was designed at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII) in Italy.
Arduino is a fast, open-source electronic prototyping platform. Arduino is aimed at DIYers, electronics enthusiasts, and anyone interested in creating objects or interactive environments. Created by Massimo Banzi, Gianluca Martino, David Cuartielles, and David Mellis, Arduino uses a programming language based on Processing. Arduino may be regarded as a simplification of Wiring.
For more information, refer to Clemens Valens’s article, “Microcontrollers for Dummies,” 080931-I, Elektor, 2/2009.