I have always wanted to participate in an open source project, and Processing seemed to be a good match. However once I have started reading PDE code, I realized that it seems to be very monolithic. Almost all classes are coupled with Base.java or Editor.java. This basicaly disallows reusability of the components, but what's worse, that means that it is impossible to test for example EditorToolbar.java component without runnign the whole PDE.
Or for example Sketch.java doesn't really follow SRP (Single Responsibility Principle) because it contains states for files, states for
There're a lot of global states and public member variables which are used across different classes.
Also there's a bunch of 'logical coupling' which is the worst type of coupling, where two classes assume each others functionality.
Also there's bunch of 'baked' in variables.
Preferences.java has three responsiblities: showing GUI, representing data in memory and persisting data.
There's an ongoing talk on forums and github issue comment 721F s about getting more people involved into development of Processing, but taking into account current lack of modularity and high levels of coupling, which result in exponential growth of complexity of the project, the learning curve of 2-3 month to be able to understand the current structure of PDE I believe is a great obstacle.
Hopefully refactoring may help.
Dimitry Kireyenkov 18 December 2013
This is the official source code for the Processing Development Environment (PDE), the “core” and the libraries that are included with the download.
If you have found a bug in the Processing software, you can file it here under the “issues” tab. If it relates to the JavaScript version, please use their issue tracker. All Android-related development has moved to its own repository here, so issues with Android Mode, or with the Android version of the core library should be posted there instead.
The issues list has been imported from Google Code, so there are many spurious references amongst them since the numbering changed. Basically, any time you see references to changes made by processing-bugs, it may be somewhat suspect. Over time this will clean itself up as bugs are fixed and new issues are added from within Github. Help speed this process along by helping us!
The processing-web repository contains reference, examples, and the site. (Please use that link to file issues regarding the web site, the examples, or the reference.)
The instructions for building the source are here, although they need an update.
Someday we'll also write code style guidelines, fix all these bugs, throw together hundreds of unit tests, and solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But in the meantime, I ask for your patience, participation, and patches.
Ben Fry, 3 February 2013
Last updated 21 April 2013