Here’s a lovely internet publishing story that we should all support. Daniel Shiffman, a professor of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, has made his book 'The Nature of Code' free to read online under a Creative Commons license. Bugs can be reported via GitHub, where you can download the book's code.
Born from a passion for programming, the book is a coder's joy. It focuses on the programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems using Processing (opens in new tab). It's a fascinating subject, although you’ll need a maths or a coding foundation to follow most of it.
If you like the book you can buy a draft PDF for a name-your-price sum (with donations to the Processing Foundation). There’s also a print version available for $29.95 from CreateSpace and Amazon.
The Nature Of Code, authored by Daniel Shiffman, is available from natureofcode.com (opens in new tab) now.
This showcase was originally published in .net magazine (opens in new tab) issue 236.
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