Processing… in Javascript

John Resig (of jQuery fame) has released 10 days ago a Javascript implementation of Processing, a Java based visualization language.
Processing is an open-source project aimed at graphic designers and artists to be a tool for creating graphical visualizations.

This is quite the feat. Porting a visually-intensive language such as processing into the browser using open technologies (ie, not Flash) is like trying to fit square pegs into round holes. John is really pushing the limits of current browser technology with his processing.js library, and some of its features only work on latest beta builds of next generation browsers (Firefox 3, Webkit). This is by design, as this library is currently more a proof-of-concept than an actual tool for mainstream use (also due to the strain it puts on the system running it in the browser).

Hopefully browser makers will take heed - and attempt to make their products fully compatible with such ambitious projects. It will be a very special day indeed when we can comfortably run a complete port of processing in all the major browsers.