Where to Go from Here - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 629

u Raphaël , http://raphaeljs.com/: It' s not as data-centric as D3, but
it's lightweight and makes drawing vector graphics in the browser
straightforward.
u JavaScript InfoVis Toolkit , http://philogb.github.com/jit/: Th e doc-
umentation and examples aren't as plentiful as the preceding two,
but there's enough available for you to start.

These libraries are the main ones, but there are many specialized libraries that
can help with certain data types. Just do a search for the visualization that
you're interested in followed by “JavaScript” and you should find it quickly.

PROCESSING

Originally designed for artists, Processing is an open source
programming language that uses a sketchbook metaphor
to write code. If you're new to programming, this is also a
good place to start because a few lines of code can get you
far, with lots of examples, libraries, books, and a large and
helpful community that make Processing inviting.

Note: Processing compiles to Java applets,
but there is also a JavaScript version of
Processing at http://processingjs.org/.
See more at http://processing.org/.

FLASH AND ACTIONSCRIPT

This isn't a popular solution anymore, but most computers have Flash installed
on them, so at the time of this writing, it's not completely bizarre to visualize
data with Flash and ActionScript. However, technology seems to be shifting
away from Flash for online applications, so if you're new to visualization and
programming, you might as well go with JavaScript. That said, if you do want
to try your hand with ActionScript, check out Flare at http://lare.prefuse.org/.

PYTHON

Python is a more general programming language that isn't geared toward
graphics, but it's commonly used for data processing and web applications.